By: Scott LaChapelle

(Inspired by Kenneth Koch's Poem "Variations On A Poem By William Carlos Williams")

By: Kenneth Koch

I poisoned your favorite flower garden

Forgive me

I was bored, and they looked so lively

We drooled over your new computer for hours

And then I smashed it with a hammer.

Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

I gave away the cd’s you’ve been saving for two years

The boy who wanted them was three

Forgive me, but he looked so happy as he threw them around.

Yesterday I came to your house, and stepped on your cat

Forgive me, I was clumsy and

I wanted you here at the Vet where I work.

A serious moment for the water is

I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.

I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do

and its wooden beams were so inviting.

We laughed at the hollyhocks together

and then I sprayed them with lye.

Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.

The man who asked for it was shabby

and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.

Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.

Forgive me. I was clumsy and

I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!