Two Poems

I
The gnats are dancing
just beyond the reach of privileged footsteps,

the lake belongs to the university -
a concrete ship,
beached and stranded
on glowing clovery high ground.

By the artificial lake
the real dawn mists would rise
in silence

but for the incessant knowing hum
of the university's thoughts,
the billion ideas
simmering in its concrete brain.

The lake has a simple life:
...