Ronald Koertge




The Ubiquity of the Need for Love

I leave the number and a short
message on every green Volvo
in town

       Is anything wrong?
       I miss you.
       213-799-3701

The phone rings constantly.
One says, are you bald?
Another, how tall are you in
your stocking feet?

Most just reply, Nothing’s wrong.
I miss you, too.

Come quick.




       




An Infinite Number Of Monkeys

After all the Shakespeare, the book
of poems they type is the saddest in history.

But before they can finish it,
they have to wait for that Someone
who is always

looking to look away. Only then
can they strike the million
keys that spell

humiliation and grief, which are
the great subjects of Monkey
Literature

and not, as some people still
believe, the banana
and the tire.