Alicia Suskin Ostriker

1937 / Brooklyn, New York City, New York

Years

—for J.P.O.
I have wished you dead and myself dead,
How could it be otherwise.
I have broken into you like a burglar
And you've set your dogs on me.
You have been a hurricane to me
And a pile of broken sticks
A child could kick.
I have climbed you like a monument, gasping,
For the exercise and the view,
And leaned over the railing at the top-
Strong and warm, that summer wind.
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