QUERIES

Tapping his long fingers on the keys
John Donne asked Google
"The lost years-- where?
The Devil's foot -- who cleft by?"
His machine sang "I don't know
But I've been told
Streets of Heaven
Are lined with gold."
Dissatisfied, Donne typed
"How get with child mandrake root?
Falling star -- how catch?"
His machine blinked and said
"I'll tell you after I've
Completed my design
To keep the Mennai Bridge from rust
By boiling it in wine."
The soul of Borges, who had come
To challenge Donne to a game of chess
Or a ferocious duel, depending,
Asked "John, how long
Since you've rebooted that thing?"

IMAGINED CORNERS

A poem that begins with the sun

Can only dim and dim from there

Unless it finds some other light

That knows more than a trick or two.

Think how surprised the sun was

To be called busy old fool!

But there are other stars of morning

If you know which way to look.

When John Donne bid angels play

Trumpets at Earth’s imagined corners

They came. Seek for them even now

You will find them still, obedient.