Light Year

If you had one more swirl you would have a good haircut,
Prosper Prosper.
If you had one more curl you would be a lady,
Prosper.
Why did you buy that flat brown hat?
You look like yourself in that.
What do I look like, what do I look like,
Prosper?

One more mile and you will wind up in Jericho,
Prosper Prosper.
One more mile over the Ninety-ninth Street bridge,
Prosper.
What is that tower on the left by the gasworks?
This isn’t the place for looking at landmarks.
Drive it or sell it, drive it or sell it,
Prosper.

If we had one more hat we should look like an army,
Prosper Prosper.
If we had one more headlight, a fire engine,
Prosper.
How many lights a mile from here?
How many miles in a light year?
This is a light year, this is a light year,
Prosper. 

Credit

From Collected Poems, 1930–83. Copyright © 1983 by Josephine Miles. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press.