The Parade
On the occasion
of his nomination
an eight hour
parade of
citizens marched
past his house
and there is
a photograph
of him standing
on his front steps
towering over all
in a white suit
with Mary
in the far left
lower window
looking bored
as ladies in wagons
with blossoms
in their hair and
fifty postmen
high-stepping
in their spiffy
blue uniforms
marched along-
side trappers
and farmers
soldiers, whores
and the boom
of a tuba played for
a hundred drunks
singing a hundred
different melodies,
donkeys, spotted
calves, dogs walking
on their hind legs
balanced on red
striped balls,
and everyone
passed by his door
it seemed so that
he understood
America was
stranger larger
than even his
wildest guess
which already
included multitudes
almost infinite
as leaves of grass
on the prairie
all of them waving
ready to be counted
and 1000 was
a boy carrying
a rooster under
each arm and
five thousand
was a man
six foot nine
with a hammer
in his left hand
representing
the Carpenter’s
Guild in New York
cakewalking as if
to the pearly gates
and finally
beyond ten
thousand came
a horse wearing
a rig of wire
and feathers
like a forlorn
Pegasus walking
slowly as if
exhausted, beaten
down by the day
and the nominee
walked into the
street and guided
the poor creature
the rest of the way
through the city
talking quietly of
myth and the myriad
varieties of hay. 
The Cavalry
The Gentleman
The Pages
The Parade
The Wine