My Noiseless Entourage [signed]

This new collection of poems from Charles Simic demonstrates once again his wit, moral acuity, and brilliant use of imagery. His settings are a farmhouse porch, a used-clothing store, empty station platforms; his subjects love, futility, and the sense of an individual life lived among a crowd of literal and imaginary presences. Both sharp and sympathetic, the poems of this collection confirm Simic's place as one of the most important and appealing poets of our time. To Dreams I'm still living at all the old addresses,Wearing dark glasses even indoors,On the hush-hush sharing my bedWith phantoms, visiting in the kitchenAfter midnight to check the faucet.I'm late for school, and when I get thereNo one seems to recognize me.I sit disowned, sequestered and withdrawn.These small shops open only at nightWhere I make my unobtrusive purchases,These back-door movie houses in seedy neighborhoodsStill showing grainy films of my life,The hero always full of extravagant hopeLosing it all in the end?-whatever it was-Then walking out into the cold, disbelieving lightWaiting close-lipped at the exit.