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fingers
I tried to catch up with them
and found myself suddenly in the light
in the land of childhood
in an earthly paradise I recovered
the eyes and lips
of my girl and cornflowers
and clouds
    Â 
    then He came to a stop
and said
friend
strike out one “big word”
from your poem
strike out the word “beauty”
    Â 
    [Wrocław 2002–2004]

Der Zauberer The Magician
    the German papers reported
“Berlin in Christo-Fieber”
    Â 
    Christo swathed the Reichstag
in thousands of yards
of marvelous silver
fabric
    Â 
    first to disappear was the doorway
with the inscription
“Dem deutschen Volke”
“To the German nation”
    Â 
    Once long long ago
before Christo and Jeanne-Claude
were born
the Reichstag went up in flames
the glow filled the sky over Germany
over Europe
over the world
then Heine Brecht
the Mann brothers
were burned at the stake
Benn searched feverishly
for his Aryan roots
Ernst Jünger pulled on his gloves

    Â 
    Goebbels barked
lied through his teeth
he had an artistic soul
wrote plays
    Â 
    Göring guffawed and bellowed
plundered
masterpieces of painting
a fake Vermeer
and a genuine Vermeer
    Â 
    carpet bombing turned
the city to rubble and ash
Adelheid hat Supp’ gekocht
die ganze Woch’
auf einem Knoch’
years passed wars passed
the rain stopped falling
the sun rose over Berlin
the smiling end of the 20th century
no one remembered
Lubbe or Dymitrov
it was 1995
    Â 
    the Reichstag wrapped in silver cloth
had forgotten its own history
    Â 
    cold tongues of fire tried to tell
the young about those black flames

but they weren’t listening
they were busy with the love parade
with pearls in their belly buttons with earrings
    Â 
    but let’s return
to the wrapping of the Reichstag
    Â 
    perhaps it was a symbolic day
marking the marriage
of a historic building
with the present
    Â 
    Chancelor Kohl didn’t understand
the point of all the wrapping
he can be forgiven
by accident he became a Historic Figure
chancelor of a united Germany
along with Reagan Wałęsa
he caused the downfall of the empire of evil
helped to bring down the Berlin wall
and the Chinese wall
and to replace the iron curtain
with a velvet curtain
    Â 
    Ernst Jünger removed his gloves
    Â 
    went back to his collection
of butterflies and beetles
turned 100

he left
many books
notes from the Caucasus
from 1942–1943
    Â 
    â€œyet the partisans are excluded
from the rules of war, if such a thing
can still be spoken of. One encircles them
in the forest like a pack of wolves in order
to destroy them. I have heard things
that belong in the realm of zoology”
    Â 
    he was by disposition an entomologist
    Â 
    we had something in common
I like beetles and butterflies and insects
I fought as a partisan and I am a writer . . .

luxury
    Tuesday April 23
the 113th day of 2002
    Â 
    today
I have the day off
    Â 
    I listen to the rain falling
I read poems
by Staff and Tuwim
    Â 
    â€œI’ll be the leading Futurist in the land.
Which doesn’t mean I’ll be the kind of ass
Who scoffs at poems, and makes a lot of fuss
And plays the magus . . .”
    Â 
    I read a page from the calendar
Angelica
a highly aromatic plant
known to antiquity
can a person recall
the taste of life
the taste of angelica vodka
    Â 
    I listen to the rain falling
    Â 
    such a luxury is
beyond the reach
of the mighty of this world

they have to shake innumerable
sweaty hands kiss flags
pat children
and old crones on the head
wipe their suits and their faces
wipe
paint from their faces
I pity
the “great” (of this world)
because they cannot throw
tomatoes at anyone
they cannot catch
little brats
by the ear
    Â 
    I thank the Lord
I don’t have to solicit the votes
of idiots
    Â 
    I listen to the rain
    Â 
    so little
is needed
for happiness
    Â 
    [April 2002–July 2003]

July 14 2004–in the night
    from nature I drew
the bud
of a tea rose
nestling
in green