I am honed now, enough

and gladly miming

what I would like to do

for scholars: sit and open,

page 28, lady in love—

what makes her watching

different? I like it, and

I’ll say that I like it,

when she quotes

herself in conversation.

It’s time, you might

say, for the audience

to become a crowd.

“Demoted” is your

word, if you’re still

predicting from

the balcony. The girl

opens a book, bites

the tip of her pencil

while the music

builds—the crowd

is wrong, “wrong”

being a way to dig in.

Thanks be to quotation.

Page 28, lady in lust:

I am honed now, enough,

nobody’s snail, nobody’s

leisure at the window.

I like it, and I’ll say

that I like it when

she promotes herself

more concisely than

what we suppose

after it. Years behind,

the educated guess is

when to leave

what you love to hear.