looking forward to look forward to.
—John Ashbery
In 2014, I’m in a really nice, mellow mood
watching the dogwalkers on Russian Hill
and reflecting on my doctor’s meeting,
his comment – But you seem to be man-
aging it so well! – and realizing, with
some joy, that he could have been
referring to anything.
I walk in the rain with Otto this morning,
his big umbrella that used to be mine, but
today we share it – over both of us.
How long have I lived in this singular spot? Be-
sides home, in Hometown, which was
sixteen odd years. Curran and I live
on O’Farrell Street, across from the
Kaiser Hospital emergency room entrance;
and this for nearly two whole years.
So that must be the new record.
