by Elaine Equi

    When a poem speaks by itself，it has a spark

    and can be considered part of a divine conversation.

    Sometimes the poem weaves like a basket around two loaves of yellow bread.

    "Break off a piece of this April with its raisin nipples，" it says.

    "And chew them slowly under your pillow. You belong in bed with me."

    On the other hand，when a poem speaks in the voice of a celebrity

    it is called television or a movie. "There is nothing to see，"

    say Robert De Niro，though his poem bleeds all along the edges

    like a puddle crudely outlined with yellow tape

    at the crime scene of spring.

    "It is an old poem，" he adds.

    "And besides，I was very young when I made it."