Questions by Stephen Dunn
Here is another one graciously sent by my poetry buddy.
Questions
By Stephen Dunn
If on a summer afternoon a man should find himself
in love with only one woman
in a sea of women, all the others mere half-naked
swimmers and floaters, and if that one woman
therefore is clad in radiance
while the mere others are burdened by their bikinis,
then what does he do with a world
suddenly so small, the once unbiased sun
shining solely on her? And if that afternoon
turns dark, fat clouds like critics dampening
the already wet sea, does the man run—
he normally would—for cover, or does he dive
deeper in, get so wet he is beyond wetness
in all underworld utterly hers? And when
he comes up for air, as he must,
when he dries off and dresses up, as he must,
how will the pedestrian streets feel?
What will the street lamps illuminate? How exactly
will he hold her so that everyone can see she
doesn’t belong to him, and he won’t let go?
Here is a link to a Bill Moyer’s interview with Naomi Shihab Nye:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/poetry/index.html
The interview is number 7 on the right as you scroll the images.
This one poem brought a genuine smile to my face. I like the pace. The rat-tat-tat of the questions being nailed at the reader. And the way it goes on without pause, as it must, and keeps asking question after question, without an answer, as if an answer would end the poem. As if there were indeed any answers at all! What can one do? But keep reading.