Spectacles
Golden frames
Around the glass
Through which you looked
Ninety years ago.
Could they tell me
What books you read,
What words you wrote,
Which notes you sang?
If I put them on
Would I see things as your did?
Or would I become keenly verbose,
Have pensive moments over burgundy,
Love more passionately,
Sigh more deeply?
Would something in the wearing
Reveal your feelings over the years
As you watched Lucia grow
As you watched Lucia change.
How did you manage to keep them
Throughout Paris, Trieste, Zurich.
I’d be happy knowing only
How many times you misplaced them
Or how often she took them out
And tried them on herself
After you’d gone.
Copyright 2004 K. Nolan
Ode to Joyce
Dear Mr. Joyce
I'm so dismayed
And so relieved
that you died before
I was born.
I know
you'll understand that
If I had seen your face
but once,
or heard you sing,
I would have sought you out
And charmed you
And made you love me.
Nora?
Nora who?
You would have said
And off we'd go
On the boat
And the train
To Zurich,
While Nora
Emptied bedpans
Changed sheets
And flirted with-
Slept with
Other men.
We,
You and I,
Would have been
Perfect for each other.
I would have
Calmed your fears,
Assuaged your insecurities,
Fulfilled your desires,
So much so
That all your pain
And doubts and torment
And regrets
Would have faded away.
And you would have felt
No need or desire
To write Ulysses
So you can see,
James-
Dear,
Why I am relieved
And sad
We never met.
Love,
Kelly
Copyright 2003 Kelly Nolan
