(yes&no)

“First a no,
then a yes,”
Muriel Rukeyser said.
I wish someone
had told me
sooner.
Perhaps the nos
could have been
more palatable
and I could have
kept the heart
to go on
until the yes
would come.

First a no,
first a no.
I didn’t know
there would be
another answer
having never
heard it.

2/2/99