Twenty Questions

By David Lehman b. 1948 David Lehman

Why did the moth fly into the flame? Was it for the same reason

That Achilles died young? Who gets more fun out of sex,

The man or the woman? (Be sure to explain how you can tell.)

Which is more real to you, heaven or hell?

Why do sinners’ ways prosper? What causes the death of love—

The love of death? Did Adam and Eve have a choice?

Did the Virgin Mary? What are we afraid of, anyway?

Even agnostics have the right to say “thank god,” don’t they?

Looking at these dancing atoms, shall I say I saw a ring

Of pure and endless light? Or did I dream the whole thing?

Whom shall I say is calling? Are you in if it’s your wife?

Are you willing to relocate? Do you like your life?

What makes this night different from all other nights?

Would you say it’s your fate to be always,

Without exception, five minutes late? If you arrived

At 9:10, would the ceremony have started at 9:05

Though it had been scheduled for 9:15? As you walk down

The aisle, and the others rivet their attention to you,

Do you ask yourself what you’re going to do,

As though it mattered, as if you knew?

Source: An Alternative to Speech (Princeton University Press, 1986)

Biography

One of the foremost editors, literary critics, and anthologists of contemporary American literature, David Lehman is also one of its most accomplished poets. Born in New York City in 1948, Lehman earned a PhD from Columbia University and attended the University of Cambridge as a Kellett Fellow. He is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Yeshiva Boys (2009), When a Woman Loves a Man (2005); and The Evening . . .

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