My American Love
        Thirty-Two Poems for Wendy

Three.
Empty Baskets

        By Majid Naficy

In the morning twilight
I look at the secret baskets
That you have left on the kitchen counter.

I’ll fill one with fresh pine cones
That you have gathered from a distant canyon
And another with large seashells
Which have captured the sounds of the ocean.

Yet there remains one basket
Still gazing at me
In the dim light.

                                April 22, 2002

POEMS: 1. On the Bridge, 2: I Hope the Water Returns, 3. Empty Baskets