Jessica at work

    She took the lid from the cod liver oil
    Behind a chair and peered out.
    She took my briefcase from long
    Ago across the room, and if I sit
    At my desk she is underneath
    Chewing on the floor.  It may
    Be true that Wordsworth and
   
    Byron were jealous of Keats,
    But if one isn’t competing
    For public acclaim, what
    Boots it how good Keats
    Was?  I’ve read some
    Poets I thought quite good.
    Jessica might chew the wood

    Beneath me, but I couldn’t
    Write like them.  Jessica
    Asks what good is my fine
    Health if I flee to Idaho
    To peer out from between the
    Trees.  I take everything from
    Her with a grain of salt.
    .