A POPULAR EVENT: CATHERINE DALEY

Can one wind down a week?
Tonight, it's crowded.
Last week was fine or a knot that tied us.

We know none of the acts.
Aside from our coteries, we're here
following peculiar publicity: word of mouth
or proximity.
It's rumored people meet here
and discuss
something. Tonight, loose jazz
and chairs are out.
Next week, perhaps
a bandstand, tambourines.
Rush off or finish this set?

A courtyard cat moves its marble eyes.
We are waiting, waiting for something to happen.



Catherine Daly is the author of two poetry collections: Locket, forthcoming from Tupelo Press in October 2004, and the trilogy DaDaDa, from SALT Publishing in 2003. She received an MFA from Columbia University in 1991. She has been working as an applications architect for fifteen years.