Poem-A-Day: Henri Cole, The Boat-Header

	August 22, 2012 Today's poem is copyright © 2012 by Henri Cole. Used with permission of the author. More from this author Other Cole Poems Beach Walk Birthday Cherry Blossom Storm Embers Gravity and Center You can unsubscribe from our Poem-A-Day emails at at anytime—either completely, or until next April. Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane Suite 901 New York, NY 10038 212-274-0343 academy@poets.org		The Boat-Header by Henri Cole I saw you unexpectedly on the street today. Though it was midday your eyes were dilated, and you seemed almost electrically charged with thought, with an increased speed of speaking: "I garden, I grill meat, I prowl the bars." But I was having difficulty listening. Your teeth were growing. A muscle spasmed against my diaphragm; I needed a bag of ice. Still, I could see those rooms with perfect clarity: the coat rack and bureau, the dinner plates with congealed meat, the flea market Piranesi, and the long mirrors like camera lenses freezing us as the boat-header gave you his final thrusts, preparatory to the cutting-in. Share Digg StumbleUpon Facebook E-mail to Friend