poliphilo

7. FLAG

As lovely as an army with banners-

The women who are not here.

The heart lifts at the flap of a rag,

A something feminine, pinned to a line.

A block of sun. A block of shadow.

The block of sun in the shape of an adze.

Multiplied by walls and walls

The flap of a flag,

the tick, tick, tick

Of an old breech-loader

An oiled procedure:

Cartridge out. cartridge in.

Waiting for the tread of the soldiers

Out of the shadow into the sun,

Out of the shadow into the sun...

8. BEADS

This is a way of finding the brain’s

capacity when the brain is gone

(Eaten by worms):

You fill the skull

With tiny glass beads then pour them out

Through a funnel into a measuring jug.

How the stream rustles.

How the stream shines.

9. ALHAMBRA

The dragons of Islamic art

Twist and coil like a map of the brain.

The human brain is built in layers

Around its basic reptile stem.

We’re dinosaurs that have been recycled.

Nothing is lost. All things return-

Not in the same configurations.

See. Among the immortal stars-

(It was the Pole Star, will be again)-

Alpha Draconis

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