Nice Weather by Frederick Seidel

Author:Frederick Seidel [Seidel, Frederick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466879775
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

LA CIVILISATION FRANÇAISE

In walks François Ier—only female, only beautiful—

Swims into the crowded room, big head like a tadpole,

Enormous nose and grandeur, and enormous eyes that pull

You to the bottom to deconstruct your soul.

The literary mermaid swimming toward you is a pearl

Whose whipping tadpole tail can break your back.

You want to make a double-decker with this girl?

Medic! It might explode. It might attack.

It’s always somewhat Paris underneath New York.

But never mind—down there, beneath the tail, there’s no way in.

The marvelous wine cellar of reds badly needs your cork!

Actually, not at all. There’s no entry slit in the sleek mermaid skin.

One of these two is already an Immortal,

But for now is also just a man, if even that.

King Cobra stands staring at Queen Mongoose, swaying, looking for the portal,

Ready to sink a poem into her mortal fat.

“Quel péril, ou plutôt quel chagrin vous en chasse?”

“Cet heureux temps n’est plus. Tout a changé de face,

Depuis que sur ces bords les dieux ont envoyé

La fille de Minos et de Pasiphaé.”

La fille de Minos et de Pasiphaé

Declaims from center stage in alexandrines her rouged rage

Which doesn’t make a sound because there’s nothing she can say,

And so it’s time to turn the page.

In the East Village, on a sweet late-summer night,

A goddess dressed in Dior parts the party crowd.

A mouse stands staring at the Muse, at the amazing sight

Of a completely lovely François Ier, with the band blasting really loud.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.