Saturday Night

The fisherman: evening effect by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, c. 1865.

[written Jan. 29–30, 1966, New Haven, CT]

Six days shalt thou labor,

till the long thin week becomes a broad

and work is forgotten.

For all our Saturdays have lighted fools their way to drunken beds,

that our accidents may be fruitful and fill the earth.

So we multiply allusions and illusions

and therein clothe our works and days,

for the joy of unbuttoning,

unzipping, and pulling off

to see

what we always knew was there.

List of Richard’s other jokes, stories, poems and essays.