A toast
And Anchises was taken
out of destruction
And Louis was beheaded
his jaw bit the basket
And Mad Mary[1] shouted. Faster!
to escape from Napoleon
And Socrates drank in homage
to his murderers.
the bomb recipe found in a recipe book
they explode
ginger jam pots the cars the buildings space shuttles the stock market
they explode
ships grenades petrol stations flats in principalities newspaper pages
they explode
magazine covers games the vesuvius old landmines gas leaks oh yes
they explode
the guilt the secrets the heads of politicians on live tv cams ice creams
they explode
nuclear submarines reputations social tensions aneurysms rose buds oh!
chocolate bombs!
Ocean
When men put the high and arched
ships on the somber sea and the waves
were split apart under the keel and
the whirlpool gurgled on the ship’s flanks
and the masts roared with a dry drone and
the wood crackled as a forest yet alive
men knew not had no idea that the
world supported itself without borders
without bearings the world was a curved horizon
beyond what you can see beyond your life beyond
—
[1] Mary I, Queen of Portugal, dubbed “a louca” (the mad one). The Royal Court came to Brazil in 1808 in order to escape from Napoleon’s invasion.