Aubade
 
Late to bed
and early to rise:
fog in the head
and blood in the eyes.
 
 
Learning to Say No
 
I agree
what
 
you propose
would
 
be right
up
 
my alley
and
 
I have
enough
 
up my
alley
 
as it
is.
 
 
After Charlottesville
 
They hate you if you’re not the same—
if, say, you’re Jewish, gay, or black.
Whatever’s wrong, well, you’re to blame.
The trick is not to hate them back.
                                         August 2017

If you have any thoughts on these poems, Robert West would be pleased to hear them.