“Los Desdichados, or Civilizations Discontents” is the second poem of a recently- completed trilogy titled “Elder Hostel Suite”. The other two poems are “Things Conceal Themselves . . .” and “Homer in the Nursing Home.”

“D’Où Venons Nous, Que Sommes Nous, Où Allons Nous,” is one of several poems I have written based on the lives of famous painters. Another of these, “From a confusion of shapes” originally appeared in The New Criterion (Vol. 13, No. 3).