#220 A Courtesan's Palace

The unicorn has
left his horn
in the anteroom.
It is a courtesy.

Besides. Some
things are better
left unsaid. She
took her face off.

#219 The Great War

Unlike, say, the Gaelic
for kiss my ass, most
Declarations of In-
dependence are top-

heavy with awkward
or extremely dated
references. Some-
times they present

as an organic synthe-
sizer, a Granny Smith
apple perhaps, with a
sound set restricted

to industrial use
because of extremely
mixed reviews. At
other times as an

holistic framework
that purports to look
at all aspects of life
as spiritual practice

but then recommends
the confining of women
to the home & the use
of tanks to shell densely

populated areas. Colon-
ialism is a patriarchal
system. The methods
devour themselves.

#218 The Great War

Sometimes she con-
fuses words that
sound alike. Such as.
Violets & violence.

So. She thinks the
soldiers are off
picking flowers.
Have brought some

to her. She goes
out walking to show
them off. Back to
the sea. Dressed

for. All in white.
Morning. Her face the
color of violence. Some-
times she confuses

words. Not always.
Life is a parasol.

#217 Le Grand Siècle

Pick a point in time
& stick a pin in it.

Attach a piece of string,
50 or 100 years long.

An area defined, ob-
long in a circle's arc.

Three sides with forest
lining them. A low

block wall across the
other. In front of which

a faceless avatar being
stared at by a windowless

mansion. Grass underfoot.
A plaster ceiling overhead.

Deadening the acoustics. A
silent century. How grand.

#216 The Wonders of Nature

One of the
wonders of
nature is its
ability to re-
use objects
over & over

in similar
or disparate
settings &
make them
new again.
So, once

more a ship,
the waves,
the very sea
shore, on which
a pair of stone-
crossed lovers.

#215 La Pipe

                       pipe
Surely             a
Magritte     not
can see     is
that     this

#214 The Apparition (2)

They're keywords. That
much he recognizes
even if he doesn't
recognize the discipline
that they come from. "The 
labels could mean any-
thing," he thinks. Which 
means. He carries one
himself. Or two. He doesn't
think. Which means.
He isn't. He appears.
Walking towards 
one of two horizons. 
Which means. They 
may not be.

#213 The Survivor

That was the year
we wintered in
Montparnasse. The 
ferry, I remember, 
was empty apart
from us, might never 
have sailed except 
its skipper lived 
on the other side 
of the river & she 
wanted to get 
home that night. Up-
stream was thick
with forest. There
were fireworks 
somewhere. I heard 
them, but I did not 
see their bloom.

#212 Applied Dialectics

thesis
                     poetry

antithesis
                     war

synthesis
                     woetry

#211 The Light-Breaker

History is. Typhoon.
The Bay of Bengal.

Ship washed up. Large.
Left there. Broken down

by locals. Scrap, metal,
parts to use. Such

plenitude never seen
before. New industry.

Now stretches for many
kilometers along the

beaches of Bangladesh.
Pollution prevails. Most

things done by hand or
not much more advanced.

Small men or children
in narrow passageways.

What air there is is
full of toxins. Is death.

Is dangerous. Is life.
Is nothing else to do.

The countryside destroyed.

     *

Breaking lights is different.

Is still to do with ships.
Broken down. Small parts

of them. Collected. Port-
holes. Filled with sky

or sometimes emptiness.
Is clean. Is dirty. Distance.

#210 The Promised Land (2)

Short-range ordered
nanoholes can
improve the health
of rice farmers &
consumers or even,
with the addition
of the new bad-boy
vibe, form a picture of
a dying Michael Jackson
that's part solid, part
liquid. Such prototyping,
with its specially de-
signed cells & the use
of heat sinks, would
seem to be an inbuilt
aspect of our human
software; but the only
constant factor in
natural phenomena
is universal change—
a life-size figurative
re-enactment of da
Vinci's Last Supper
made from wax just
doesn't cut it as a
wonder of the world.