Jack Tricarico

R E M I N D E R

People commit suicide

They take heroin

They burst into dust

Because the laundry has to get done

Meanwhile

Another kind of octopus

Distributes its ink

Without apology to stop signs

Mrs. Eagleton dropped her breasts

Over my right shoulder

Showing me how to paint in watercolor

Her voice is a seascape today

Without a horizon line

Reminding her class

Of incorrigible failures

That to live without talent

Is not nearly so bad

As to die without love