A Reason by Robert Creeley
Here’s a secret: I wanted to steal all the Robert Creeley books in the library. Every bookstore I went to doesn’t have his works. Shame.
A Reason
Robert CreeleyEach gesture
is a common one, a
black dog, crying, a
man, crying.All alike, people
or things grow
fixed with what
happens to them.I throw a stone.
It hits the wall,
it hits a dog,
it hits a child—my sentimental
names for years
and years ago, from
something I’ve not become.If I look
in the mirror,
the wall, I
see myself.If I try
to do better
and better, I
do the same thing.Let me hit you.
Will it hurt.
Your face is hurt
all the same.