CAREER

When he was young he wrote twenty

Or twenty two very good poems.

The rest of his career was spent

In writing them over. They grew tired

And coarse. Towards the end

The lovely “Tyrhennian Light”

Had become a recipe

For a dust and jalapeño omelet.

As he was dying, Wordsworth’s ghost

Dropped by to say “It doesn’t count

If you do it deliberately.”