Rae Armantrout

[from Rae Armantrout's The Pretext, 2001]

The Past

Sound
as a drum
or tight as a drum? Quick!

Is recognition
sentimental?

She never thought
when she was waiting tables
that there would be null sets.

People come first, but
categories outlast them.

She said, “If you’re gonna hire
the dummies, I quit!”

She thinks
this may be one
of those waitresses here.

Someone has probably mixed up
recognition with hatred.

Is she holding
a grudge,
a séance
or a piece of bread

which she won’t eat because
someone
has taken a bite of it?