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Lloyd Schwartz is a board member of the NEPC and the Poet Laureate of Somerville. He is Elizabeth Bishop’s editor, and a critic for NPR’s Fresh Air and WBUR. His awards include fellowships in poetry from the NEA, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets, and a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. His latest book is Who’s on First? New and Selected Poems.

CROSSWORD

                  For David

Lloyd Schwartz

You’re doing a crossword.

I’m working on a puzzle.

Do you love me enough?

What’s the missing word?

Do I love you enough?

Where’s the missing piece?

Yesterday I was cross with you.

You weren’t paying enough attention.

You were cross with me.

I wasn’t paying enough attention.

Our words crossed.

Where are the missing pieces?

What are the missing words?

Yet last night we fit together like words in a crossword.

Pieces of a puzzle.

— Lloyd Schwartz

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