Organizational Men in Affluent Society, by Kenneth Rexroth
It is deep twilight, my wife
And girls are fixing supper
In the kitchen. I turn out
The reading lamp and rest my eyes.
Outside the window the snow
Has turned deep blue. Anthony
and Cleopatra after a trying day. I think of
Those vigorous rachitic
Men and women taking off
Their clothes of lace and velvet
And gold brocade and climbing
Naked into bed together
Lice in their stinking perfumed
Armpits, the bed full of bugs.
From “Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems of Kenneth Rexroth” by Kenneth Rexroth (Copper Canyon Press: 128 pp., $15) Copyright 1997 Reprinted by permission.