Crying
In this short poem, the speaker comments on the healing effects of crying. They state that instead of only crying as much as necessary, one should let everything out at once. Then, after crying hysterically, one could begin to be happy again.
Telephoning in Mexican Sunlight
The speaker here is using a public telephone in Mexico to talk with his girlfriend, who is currently in New York. Initially, the protagonist is annoyed because someone had told him he was wearing a woman’s shirt earlier. His mood changes when he remembers that a famous German poet credited wearing dresses as a child with his unique literary voice and the speaker begins to engage in passionate flirting with his beloved. When the talk gets more heated in content, the speaker begins to notice a flock of birds nearby and becomes convinced that they are attracted by both his feminine, flowery shirt and the sexually charged conversation. Finally, his beloved says a particularly naughty, though unnamed, word which embarrasses the speaker so much that he feels everyone around him looks at him in shock.
Daybreak
For this poem, the speaker observes a large number of starfishes being washed ashore with the tide before dawn and compares them to actual stars in the sky. At first, they move across the shore, large and visible, only to sink into the mud eventually and disappear as the sun rises.
Blackberry Eating
In the poem, the speaker describes the naughty feeling he gets when eating fresh blackberries directly from the stalks in late September. He compares the light sting from the stalks and the feeling of the berries pooping in his mouth to using certain more taboo words.
