No. 14 Carol papered her walls with poems,

Carol papered her walls with poems,

there are thousands.

It was her great dilemma, deciding
whose and which and where

and, after creating a careful
composition of women poets

that began in the kitchen
in a tight mass

then spilled out
and poured into the sunroom,

Carol was so exhausted

she gave up
trying to make a coherent
statement,

trying to please
all the poets and her own
sensibilities, so

Bukowski is pasted
next to Whitman who’s by
Jorie Graham above
Pablo Neruda
beside
Wordsworth
then

cummings

and so on.

Happy accidents abound.

Ironic ones, too:
Plath by Hughes...

Strange configurations develop
at parties, odd high traffic areas
emerge

and Carol has had to decorate
with stepstools and small ladders

to accomodate

her guests , who all tend to stand
with their faces turned to the walls.

When people come over for tea at four
they find they cannot leave

until they read
just.
one.
more.

Now special status attaches
to a group composed
only of those who’ve read it all, the canon

of Carol’s walls.

--Zann Carter 04.14.09 (for Carol Narigon, who wrote the Facebook remark that inspired)