The Classics Department
At my college
They have done over the building
Where I parsed Vergil:
Power point, padded seats
In stylish gray, setting off
A small slate chalkboard,
Archival shard.
In this room
(Greek letters chiseled into wood)
Our professor had said that Sputnik
Would bring people back to the Eclogues.
Young women with cell phones
Wait now to hear about Odysseus.
Valentine's Day
Valentine’s Day
at a school in the suburbs:
BMW’s wait in line for
eighth-grade girls in gaggles,
with braces and Benetons:
So he goes...and I’m like...
At the fringes of carpool she stood,
a little taller than the others,
hair a little stringier,
with just one carnation
to carry home,
its stem broken
in the hallway
between classes.
