Selected Poems 1970-2010

YOUNG MAN Brittany In June Riding on a mobylette On a straight road Between poplars The sun coming down Like an orb through the gaps A young man In love with being in love Going to see friends on the beach and the girl Who didn’t love him Which he knew And through the gaps In his yearning Somehow discerning That it didn’t matter That what mattered was the road And the sun through the trees In Brittany In June And the wind about his hair And the song in his head Knowing that this was happiness And the closest he would come That he didn’t care then About the person he could see Turn to you now and say Never mind the things I have done or haven’t done Never mind their uselessness If I had to answer to the question why I am here If I had to justify the entirety of my existence I would point to that man On that road In June And affirm that I was him And that I am.