Monk Style

In practice, it took 45 minutes to get his stride.
It was hard for Monk to play Monk.

—National Public Radio

It may be that
Monk is always
playing Monk but
down the hall.

There are
long corridors
as in a school.

Monk must
approach himself,
join himself
at the bench
and sit awhile.

Then slip his
hands into his
hands Monk
style.

—Kay Ryan

Kay Ryan’s The Best of It: New and Selected Poems won a Pulitzer Prize in 2011; that same year, she was also awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.