Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Who’s on First?
by Lloyd Schwartz
“You can be so inconsiderate.”
“You are too sensitive.”
“Then why don’t you take my feelings into consideration?”
“If you
weren’t so sensitive, it wouldn’t matter.”
*
“You seem to care about me only when you want me to do
something for you.”
“You do too much for people.”
*
“I thought you were going home because you were too tired to go with me to a bar.”
“I was. But Norman didn’t want to come here alone.”
*
“I’m awfully tired. Do you mind taking the subway home?”
(Silence.)
“You could stay over . . .”
(Silence.)
“I’ll take you home.”
(Silence.)
*
“Why do we have sex only when you want to?”
“Because you want to have sex all the
time.”
*
“Relationships work when two people equally desire to give to each
other.”
“Relationships rarely work.”
*
“Do you love me?”
“Of course—; but I resent it.”
*
“Why aren’t you more affectionate?”
“I am.”
*
“Couldn’t we ever speak to each other without irony?”
“Sure.”
*
“I love you, you know.”
“Yes . . . but why?”
*
“Do you resent my advice?”
“Yes. Especially because you’re usually right.”
*
“Why do you like these paintings?”
“What isn’t there is more important than what is.”
*
“Your taste sometimes seems strange to me.”
“I’m a Philistine.”
“A real Philistine would never admit it.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
*
“Aren’t you interested in what I care about?”
“Yes. But not now.”
*
“We should be more open with each other.”
“Yes.”
“Shall we talk things over?”
“What is there to say?”
*
“Are you ever going to cut down on your smoking?”
“It’s all right—I don’t inhale.”
*
“Sometimes I get very annoyed with you.”
“The world is annoying.”
*
“Your cynicism is too easy.”
“Words interfere with the expression
of complex realities.”
*
“Do you enjoy suffering?”
“You can’t work if you don’t suffer.”
“But we suffer anyway.”
“I know.”
*
“Do you think we ever learn anything?”
“I’ve learned to
do without.”
*
“You’re always so negative.”
“I feel death all the time.”
“Are you afraid of anything?”
“Not working.”
*
“What shall we do for dinner?”
“It doesn’t matter—whatever you’d like.”
*
“Why don’t you care more?”
“I do.”
Copyright © 1981 by Lloyd Schwartz. This poem was originally published in Ploughshares and reprinted in Who’s On First: New and Selected Poems (University of Chicago Press, 2021).
About the Author
Lloyd Schwartz is poet laureate of Somerville, the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and a longtime arts critic for NPR’s Fresh Air. He’s published five books of poetry, a collection of his music reviews, and has edited three volumes devoted to the works of Elizabeth Bishop. Among his honors are the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, and Academy of American Poets for his poetry. His poems have been selected for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Poetry, and The Best of the Best American Poetry. His next collection, “Artur Schnabel and Joseph Szigeti Play Mozart at the Frick Collection (April 4, 1948)” and Other Poems, will appear next year from Arrowsmith Press.
Queer Poem a Day
Queer Poem-a-Day is founded and co-directed by poet and professor Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Library and host of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast. Music for this fifth year of our series is “L’Ange Verrier” from Le Rossignol Éperdu by Reynaldo Hahn, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
