JESS
(1923-2004)

It did not seem real
without regret
confessing now
to an off hand meeting
with the artist Jess
and the poet Robert Duncan
unpacking my suitcases
in the San Francisco sun
from the sun's burning sky
when with reckless energy
my soul recognizes for me
amid tourists nearby
there are no coincidences
in being hidden as a mortal
with a goal of eternal pictures,
frames of popular references
in a couple of exchanges
only cultural influences
which wash in an eyelash.