The Pain by  Laura Kasischke   Like the human brain, which organizes The swirls and shades of the bathroom tiles Into faces, faces With expressions Of exhaustion, of disdain. The Virgin Mary in the toast of course But also the penance in the pain, and the way My mother invented Plums and tissue paper, while My father invented the type of Sudden kindness That takes you by surprise When you've expected to be chastised And makes you cry

A taste of a favorite

This Is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams


I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast 

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet 

Short, but powerful lines

"Having Reddened the Plum Blossoms"
by Yosa Buson (1716-1783)
translated by Robert Hass

Having reddened the plum blossoms
the sunset attacks
oaks and pines.