Swan Electric by April Bernard

Author:April Bernard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

13. Hell

The tiles in the kitchen were buckled black and crazed white

and they gave oddly soft under my knees

when I tried to scrub the tub or bathe the dog

or when, my hands down also on the tiles,

I begged, and begged him not to leave me,

as he did.

“Dammi la mano in pegno” says the Commendatore

to Don Giovanni, “give me your hand as a promise,”

and then he takes him into the cavern of flame.

“No!” shouts Giovanni, as the fire answers, “Sì.”

14. Funny Weather

Clouds pushed in regular, quilted masses

across the sky: This effect was visible, even in the city.

Men left their women in general, and a keening

rose from the land.

Followed by a long silence, and in certain quarters,

intense study of the tarot.

I began the catalog of mistakes, those of

others first: the crucifixion installation;

the brothel horror video;

the billiards revival; the rehab spas.

My own mistake was to imagine

that the biographical mattered.

Eventually, we would move away

and the buildings would get on with history.

Scattered across the tar,

the broken necklace of beads.

If you try to visit where Da Ponte is buried,

in the cemetery on 2nd Street, you can’t

see over the wall, and you can’t get in the gate.

This is not funny, but neither is it tragic.

The scattered beads Manahatta

did not want and did not keep.

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.