May 1, 2006

 

Dear Jack,

           Nice to hear from you about the reunion, which, unfortunately, I’ll have to miss.  At least I cannot make a commitment now and I’ve already waited too long to respond.  I hope you are healthy and happy, or relatively so, as age permits.  Enclosed find two forms and a check as well as two pictures and a poem, which you are free to use or not use as you see fit.

           With degrees in English from the University of Nebraska and the University of Washington, I joined the faculty of the University of Wyoming and taught there thirty-two years.  A little book of my poems, including the one enclosed, appeared in 1995 from Pyncheon House, a small literary press in Amherst, Mass.  I am retired, divorced, gay, and computer-illiterate but would be happy to hear from anyone in the old-fashioned ways.  God bless.

 

                                                          Sincerely,

                                                           James Cole

 1251 N. 21st St.
Apt. B21
Laramie, WY 82072
Tel: 307-755-0228

 

JIM COLE’S POEM

THE PINK DONKEY

 From the electric lip
To the guardian mouse at the bottom,
Scattered hot colors
Light the world and shadow the heart
Of doubt.
A butterfly turns on a pinhead,
And a hooked glass fish
Closes its one eye
On a bird.
The soldier’s happy
In such company, bright as a button, armed,
And all the pink donkey must do,
Among the branches, is wait
For one with a sombrero and guitar,
With no place in particular
To ride.

 

                                                                   James Cole

 …first appeared in The Nation 1976