Two Pictures and Two Poems

To converse with the greats

To converse with the greats
by trying their blindfolds on;
to correspond with great books
by rewriting them;
to edit holy edicts,
and at the midnight hour
to talk with the clock by tapping on a wall
is the solitary confinement of the universe.

Vera Pavlova

Catch

Big Boy came
Carrying a mermaid
On his shoulders
And the mermaid
Had her tail
Curved
Beneath his arm.

Being a fisher boy,
He'd found a fish
To carry --
Half fish,
Half girl
To marry

Langston Hughes