Easy Romance A Half-found Poem for Carolyn Forché and her “Lost Poem” There are many poetic tools at hand to impress mystery upon the reader. Mention in passing a far-off land not to be found in a geography class. The disappearance at Voronezh will do, The spectacles crushed at Portbou. Refer to a beloved mutual friend we have absolutely no memory of in the end. Antonovka’s apple seeds or Anna along Lake Erie’s reeds. Throw in an italicized Ugric word, Or a French epigraph about how hope is a bird. Au silence de celle qui laisse reveur, J’ai rapporté du desespoir, mon amour. Lastly compare your memories to a petal, And your world to stone or something vegetal. An apple blossom floating by a rock, Horses chiseled in bluestone chalk. And was it Carolyn or Cavafy Who wrote of a city near the sea, of hungers, figs, and demons? It all seems so referential and contrived, which I cannot fault. Our lives should look outside themselves, and love is all derived. Mention in passing a far-off land, Refer to an imaginary friend. Compare your memories to an exotic word, Your easy romance I will understand.