Tonight Is Carnival

Under the lamp
with the shade that turns yellow
when the light comes on

I drink tea with a scholar
who swept in smiling
a Russian translation in her bag

carrying every good thing for me:
lace cookies and ice cream
a loaf of dark bread and two stories
from North Beach

At that point I told the stories
I'd overheard in Farmersville
better than anything from San Francisco

The scholar checked the calendar
said Lent was coming right up--
how it all fits together

Tonight is carnival in Tulare
a three-ring circus
a triple-decker ice cream cone
strands of beads thrown from a float

Notes

McDaniel, Wilma. (2001) Borrowed Coats. Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, New York.
Courtesy University of California, Merced Library. Copyright owned by the Regents of the University of California.