#414 The Dead Bird

                for Hannah Weiner

No matter how
many times she

opens & closes the
wardrobe door,

the bird behind it
remains dead, part

in, part out of
its ungilded cage.

#413 Sugar Bowl with Fruit & Books (1923)

This could quite easily be the
table of a diabetic, given that
when you Google the individual
components, that's what most of
the responses seem to suggest.

Then change the order, books
in front, & the preservation of
the species leads the way. Not
the human species, not at first.
Push past the jam & conserves

& you come to why sugar is bad
for you, can lead to an early death —
but reading some expensive book
might help you put that off. An-
other permutation, with the bowl

back in, & ceramics from Amazon
loom large. Probably what Magritte
had in mind all along. Who belongs
in the sugar bowl? Why steal Cez-
anne's apples? Where is de Chirico?

#412 Man in a Bowler Hat

Is not a prototype. That came
some years before. The title
suggests it may not be a self-
portrait though of course it is,

even though this time around
we can't rely on the eyes to
confirm it since they can't be
seen — a dove covers a larger

area than an apple. It's the tie
that gives it away, as always
slipped slightly below that
apex of the collar where the

shirt is buttoned. Only the tie's
color changes. The man does
not. The bowler hat follows
what current fashion dictates.