page 57

James Brown

What the very old man told me

That he had regrets. That he didn’t like saying
things were better in the old days,
but they probably were.
That god existed, but only as an idea.

That most people had rocks for brains.
That Wordsworth was right about emotion
recollected in tranquility, but wrong about nature.
That one should never turn one’s back on the sea.

That vehicles shouldn’t be allowed on beaches.
That I should be careful about shellfish.
That he liked form. That his joints ached
when it was overcast.

That asked to choose between the devil and
the deep blue sea, he’d take the deep blue sea.
That Roger and Simon were his favourite characters
in The Lord of the Flies.

That automatic cars were hopeless
because you couldn’t crash start them.
That his jet-ski cuff-links were a present
from one of his sons. That they were a joke.

That the mind is first a maze, then a treadmill.
That he preferred classical music.
That dogs should never have thrown
their lot in with humans.

page 58 That he could barely recall
the strange young man who wrote
Daddy from the author 9/4/37
in his book Enemies: Poems 1934–36.

That he missed glass milk bottles.
That he loved his wife.
That he liked walking.
That he liked watching water.