for JFP
as She Leaves Vermont
for Vassar College
I.
The Lesson of Frankie Wagtail
knocked
you down into the mud
like
a little doll
because
your winter coat
reminded
him of his mother.
Beware
of goats named Frank.
II. The Lesson of Parents
Before
they made you,
the
Champion of Lawnmowers
and
the Queen of Zucchinis lived in empty rooms
in
white shirts.
Then
they bought some Hawaiian shirts
and
sang you around
filling
their rooms and dancing on the lawn
among
the squashes.
Send
them new shirts.
III. The Lesson of High Places
Your
mother taught my boys
to
go backwards down the stairs
one
at a time pinching
the
lip of each step above
then
reaching back and down with feet
for
each new one
before
letting go
and
so they do quite well these days
having
not yet fallen
down
the stairs.
In
Vermont of many obvious cows
several
thousand feet above most else
I
have watched you
with
your great bouncing nests of chestnut curls
playing
among the squashes
and
being very, very good
and
that is almost all
that
need be said
except
that at some Places of Liberal Arts
the
hair requires artifice
and
the cows are identifiable
only
by their leavings
and
so I also say, Moo moo:
Be
very, very good
and
if you cut your hair do so knowing
the
people in Hawaiian shirts who grow squash blossoms in the lawn
wait at the top of the stairs
to catch you
(hair
or no)
upwards
if
you fall.