Ode to a GrasshopperBY PEDRO PIETRI

(I hope)

the only reason

That I am this pre-autumn

Afternoon in the privacy

Of my suspicious living room

Grant myself permission

To believe in god once again

Is solely because I saw

An unexpected grasshopper

Staring at my thoughts

On the table that keeps

The telephone from having

A mind of its very own

At first I was startled

And then I was startled less

At the sight of this insect

Put together in green details

To pay me an afternoon visit

39 floors above floor level

In my High Rise Hobo apartment

Miracle on 53rd street

Grasshopper hopped all the way

39 floors above floor level

To deliberately invade my privacy

And I didn't mind at all

After grasshopper assured me

It didn't speak English or Spanish

Or Chinese with an Italian accent

So we hit it off right away

You mind your own business

And I will not ask you

Any personal questions aside

From how the hell did you get here

I've never written a poem

About grasshoppers this high up before

And I know it wasn't something

My non existing paint brushes

Conceived behind my back and

The only grass I have here is

To smoke & not hop around in

Until I get dizzy and levitate

There has to be a mistake

Or did the grasshopper take

The elevator to the 39th floor

And enter my apartment without knocking

To make it obvious grasshoppers

Have the right to remain silent also

And give credit to the desert

For his arrival and not no Almighty

The only other mystery capablePedro Pietri, "Ode to a Grasshopper" from Selected Poetry. Copyright © 2015 by

Pedro Pietri.  Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.

Source: Selected Poetry (City Lights Books, 2015)