ITEM

Horace Walpole reports

That Lady Mary Palk

Has died in childbed.

He didn't know her

And isn't sure Mary Berry,

To whom he's writing

On 7 March 1791

Knew her either.

She was 23 

Says a footnote 

And was the 1st dau.

Of the 3rd E. of Darnley.

Her baby -- Robert --

Survived a few days.

If her ghost has become 

A power in the other world 

Knowing this may serve you well.

If not, you might do worse 

Than to think of her

For so long as it takes 

To read 99 words

And some stray bits 

Of punctuation.

NOBLES

The dead generally choose 

To get their passports and such

In Bruges, since being deceased is there

Considered an honorable career

Conferring privileges (their letters

Are carried, for instance, at lower rates

And only once in a while thrown in the mud

By surly Flemish postmen.) Still,

The occasional dead man or woman

Would turn up when I worked

At our office in Ghent seeking

Consular services though we were not,

Strictly, a consulate. A few of our cats

Were skilled forgers with few scruples

And we had a sideline in selling

False patents of nobility to shadows

Which had no one to cast them. Even now

I sometimes pass a Prinz von Thurn undt Taxis

Or see a grey-haired Margravine of Karlsruhe

Nervously pretending not to know me.

WHY, EXACTLY?

I take it kindly God

That You came after me

Though it means that

We're both lost now.

Take my hand and tell me 

What possessed You

To make Infinity so very big?

WHILE OUT WALKING

A voice from the ground said

"Pick me up! I am not a small stone

But a powerful demon who, for now,

Appears to be a pebble. I will reward 

Those who aid me and remember

Those who pass me by!" My pockets

Are full of pebbles; this is not

The first time I've heard a hard luck story;

They seldom turn out to be true.

Still, a talking rock deserves a degree 

Of attention nor, these days,

Do my pockets have much else in them.

NINJA CHILDREN (R)

Before we began our campaign

Few were aware of the problems

Of having a ninja baby. Born stealthy,

Some of them are months old

Before their parents catch more

Than flighting glimpses of them.

There is something unnerving – believe me--

About a silent baby, dressed in black

Clinging next to the window at  3 A.M.

Squinting at the moon thoughtfully

Because it, perhaps, understands her.

No matter the parents,  your ninja child

Is, of course, Japanese. Communicating

Can be extremely difficult.

Nor can one use sitters who aren’t masters

Of a wide variety of martial arts

ANSWERS FOR AESRED

As a condition of our return we 

Took new names and practiced 

Forgetting our former ones. We

Learned to weep at what had

Made us smile but were allowed

Sometimes to be sad over things

That made our former selves weep.

The sun was no friend to us. The moon

An inconstant ally. Drinks

Were almost never on the house.

CLAVICULAR

Invented by primitive fish

On a slow Tuesday, clavicles

Are the first part of us

To start turning into bone

But the last to finish. They 

Are the only long bones

Which run horizontally. 

The name means "little key."

Instructions for making

Magic carpets, garters

And daggers may be read 

In a book called

"The Clavicle of Solomon."

Keys carved from clavicles

Are charms against lightning

But sometimes open doors

Better left firmly shut.

TROUBLEMAKERS

After the battle the shadows of the dead

Were hastily assembled in long columns 

And ordered to march towards the disputed lands

Away from the capital where, it was felt, 

Their presence might be bad for morale.

Already, shadows crowded the city's streets.

Disconcertingly, some had learned to speak 

On every corner they'd be found towards dusk 

Growing larger and more indistinct, preaching

Treasonous gibberish until the risen moon

Counseled discretion and they'd evanesce

Returning quietly with the morning's dew.

SUITORS

During his long last weeks

The ghosts gathered round

The deathbed of Telemachus

Penelope didn’t come, nor Odysseus;

He was always a footnote 

To their celebrated story.

Laertes, his grandfather, shadowed in 

But thought him Telegonos, Circe's son.

Most frequently visited the suitors  

Coming by ones or twos or in large groups.

The last few hours saw them all 

Crowded into his narrow room,

Leaning in at the windows,

Perching dangerously on the rafters.

What wounded Telemchus most

Was that the suitors forgave him

“Eh,” said Alcarops, “ what

Did we expect? Boy grown up

Without a father? We did

Our best but our best, at best,

Was a band of rowdy brothers.”

“Me,” said Leodes, “I accuse 

This shame culture of ours

Conscience dwelled not in us

But in the eyes of other men

And those eyes told Telemachus he

Should help his father kill

The men who'd raised him."

"I blame the epithets," said Pseras

"Have you read the Odyssey?

Penelope is cautious, careful, circumspect, 

Discreet, wise and self-obsessed.

Odysseus is cunning, resourceful, patient,

A man of twists and turns, much-enduring,

The sacker of cities, the man of action,

The master mariner (though why

A captain who loses his ships and his men

Deserves this one is beyond me).

What is Telemachus? Poised. Just poised.

What chance had poise to withstand 

Cunning, resource, twists, turns, endurance,

Action, caution, sacking, wisdom 

Discretion, more wisdom, and self-obsession?

And poor us! Swaggering and haughty!"

They argued as they always did and when 

Telemachus died they made for him an escort

Into the mist and gloom, into the light.

PORTRAIT, REVISED

On a pale spring day in 1760
Kutsukawa Shunsho determined to paint
A group portrait of the poetess Ono No Komachi.
He  coaxed and persuaded versions of her

To leave, for a while, the ninth century
And pose with props in his studio. Afterwards,
The old dancer fell asleep, her head
On the lap of the girl who brought rain.
Komachi the courtier and Komachi the beggar
Wandered about Edo, telling outrageous lies
And winking at every man they passed.

EDITED

Hiragino Mincho ruled

Much of Japan until

His wife, Lao Sangam,

Revealed he was 

A typeface. Shamed,

He cut off his serifs

And began life anew.

EPIC

It wasn't strictly regular, but given the need 

To produce 70,000 foot/boards of poetry

In three weeks and a half, we improvised.

Old muses, dragged reluctant from retirement,

Provided weary inspiration for troops

Of poets who'd thought they were hired

To write comic greeting cards.

New muses, hastily made, proved to be

Quite sturdy for things slapped up from 

Loose boards, ashes, bottle caps, bent ideas 

And shadows which, drawing too close,

Found themselves conscripted. Supplies 

Ran low; at one point there were only 

Twelve rhymes on hand and three of them 

Were hudibriastics. It was then I learned 

To mostly live without them.

THE MARQUESA OSSOLI

When the boat carrying her sank

Just off Staten Island, her memoirs

Swam to shore, where the wind

Read them, leaving the pages

Scattered for miles. No one 

Has read them since.

Though Henry Thoreau spent days

Gathering the wet pages, the words 

Made good their escape. Someday 

A learned gull or scholarly crab

May track them down or conjure up 

Margaret Fuller to write them again

BUT WHICH

Time has left their names:

Goldwin and Reynolds but there 

Is some uncertainty as to whether 

They were men or cats. It is known

They lived with George Montagu

About the year 1746. Dr. Lewis 

Points out that their ghosts

Do not come if you call them,

Suggesting they were cats but

Dr. Wilmarth notes that some men

Are just as skilled at being ornery.

OR NOT

Sometimes they

Toss the baby 

High into the air.

To please them, she 

Falls back down 

Into their hands

Usually.

They believe time 

Will teach her

Good manners

And more respect 

For gravity.

TIME DOWN

Time falls asleep. How not?

He's old; his work's hard

Everything stops, waiting

For him to wake again.

When this goes on too long

The authorities convene

An ad hoc committee

Chaired by a piebald cat.

Someone remembers

That Time's father 

Had the job before him.

The old man's no longer

Very skilled but hauls out

A trunk filled with minutes 

Deemed unreliable or having 

A louche, sinister look to them.

Apprentices make from them hours

And days which fall apart

At the least hard usage.