Ron Padgett
The Garbage Can
i. m. Larry Fagin
There’s the garbage can Larry gave us
around 45 years ago,
galvanized metal we painted dark red
and over the years scuffed up, 30-gallon capacity
I think, to replace the brown paper bags
we had been using, like the poor people
we were or living like, and Larry said
“Ugh! Get rid of those paper bags!”
and when we didn’t he showed up
with the brand new can.
Now it’s lined with plastic bags
I tote downstairs when they’re full enough.
My wife says we should replace the can
and she’s probably right,
but.
The Joy of Cooking
for Larry Fagin
Felix Frankfurter
Michael Hamburger
Jon Hamm
Francis Bacon
C. T. Onions
Roland Pease
Alfred Corn
Orson Bean
John Cale
Albert R. Broccoli
Theodore Sturgeon
Sam Bass
Grantland Rice
Harvey Bialy
Bob Lemon
Billy Apple
Don Cherry
Harvey Milk
Beverly Pepper
James Salter
Michael Kitchen
Sam Cooke
William Gass
Ron Padgett was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1942 and has lived mostly in
New York City since 1960. Among his many honors are a Guggenheim
Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, the Shelley
Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, the William Carlos Williams
Award, the Frost medal, and grants from the National Endowment for the
Arts. The French government made him an Officer in the Order of Arts and
Letters. He is also a translator of twentieth-century French poets Guillaume
Apollinaire, Pierre Reverdy, and Blaise Cendrars. He has collaborated with
artists such as Jim Dine, George Schneeman, Joe Brainard, Bertrand Dorny,
and Alex Katz. His most recent poetry collection is Alone and Not Alone.
Published March 2018.