James Tate breaks that rule where you are supposed to show something in the middle of action rather than giving specific exposition. Almost every piece opens with a paraphrase of setting and person. Here: “I was outside St. Cecelia’s Rectory smoking a cigarette when a goat appeared beside me”. His stories cause me concern because they describe things that happen to all of us. We almost understand them, and he was the only one who could begin to begin talking about it.

Published in Lost River, Sarabande Books, 2003. You can read it on the poets.org website, here, and hear Tate read it here. I find it upsetting that people are laughing because I think he was serious