Quote: Mark Strand Poem Tom Delmore

Mark Strand said, "Life makes writing poetry necessary to prove I really was paying attention."



Coffee Shop Conversation


She sits across from her husband
They could be strangers except for the nearness.
Reading the USA Today to her New York Times
She speaks, completing coupleness. “Honey,
Less than one percent suffer from suicide headaches
Just like mine. A pain in the eyes for an hour
Than dissipating and coming back.”
He does not lower his section to say:
“just like yours” overlapping a painful truth.



She sits across from her husband
They could be strangers except
For the nearness.

Reading the USA Today
To her New York Times.
She speaks, completing coupleness.

“Honey, less than one percent
Suffer from suicide headaches
Just like mine;

A pain in the eyes for an hour
Then dissipating and coming back.”
He does not lower his section

To say “just like yours.”
Overlapping a painful
Truth.