for Henry Bienen
Clothes on that line, headless
in the chill May wind but such antics!
such a mad happy dance of legs, arms!
torsos male-muscled in wind!
and tulip-bright colors,
streaked checked solid plaid!
Let's set our clocks to zero
and begin the universe again!
In the chill May wind.

© 1995 by Joyce Carol Oates
 

Joyce Carol Oates of Princeton, New Jersey, has most recently authored the novel What I Lived For (Dutton), The Perfectionist and Other Plays (Ecco Press), and, under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith, the psychological suspense novel You Can't Catch Me (Dutton).