Short Word

For Kenneth Koch 



We met each other in Smyrna
Birthplace of Seferis 
Walked all the day together around Ephesus 
Admiring the antiquities 
And chatting about the troubles of a new era
We came from different worlds 
I with a youth full of privations 
You with the clamor of Beatnik days
What makes a poet a poet?
You said with your ironic smile
The pain or joy of living?
Now that you are no more 
It's boring sometimes 
To live after you
Life! That little trick of substance 
Curiously expressed with such a short word 
In all mankind's languages


2008

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