“Number Eight,”
Marco ten Vaanholt

Rafael Jesús González

Grand Gray Foolishness
to Doug von Koss

Come the bold gray age
of Shams of Tabriz,
when Jelál & he met.
You've come
into your foolishness,
old man,
a grand foolishness
full of implausible ventures
like Noah's project --
but where old Noah
misheard 'ark'
you got it right:
'Art saves lives.'
Dancing, we raise high
our wine glasses,
and if they spill,
so much the better;
god loves such outpouring.