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Elaine Equi

Two poems

Wittgenstein’s Colors

Blond
Tamarind
Bacon
Fog

Burlap
Winter Grass
Semi-dark

Tarn
Goose
Nutmeg

Brown Light
Hot Blue

Lion’s Mane
Liverspot
Birch

Furniture Fantasy

Homeless club kids
living on rice, beans
and Gitanes.

All day he forces them
to strip
            paint,

sand hutches
and stain armoires
to the music of Billie Holiday.

Outdoors, under a tarp
even in rain.
All this they gladly do
without complaint

for how else
will the owner
know whose love
of antiques is true

and who’s a fake —

which urchin
to take
to his ancient
mahogany sleigh bed

and which to make
curl up in
the Morris chair.

Elaine Equi has published six collections of poetry, including The Corner of the Mouth (1986) and Surface Tension (1989). She was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, and now lives and teaches in New York City. Photograph of Elaine Equi copyright © John Tranter 1989

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