Featured Poem 11/9/02:

excerpt from "Benjamin – Nine Epilogues"

Nazi Paris,

where

the People become an endless film. The Revolution
fist, on the other hand, smashes down lazy doors and
takes food. A hungry man has a fist. One for himself
and another for the man beside him. A fist can feed a
baby and can build a house. A fist can be safe.

Take this shovel. It is the enemy of the ground. Use it
to write a play where the shovel appears at the
beginning and at the end. The people are important
the shovel is important. If a door is locked, use the
shovel. If a man is wrong, use the shovel.

If I should die on the floor, use the shovel to return
me somewhere. Do not use a splendid sentence the
splendid sentence is not a shovel. The splendid shovel
is not a shovel. Do not apologize you are not sorry.

Tomorrow I will be going on the trolley. I will not be
taking the train. The map I did not take with me said
nothing about a way to Spain. Do not follow me I did
not take it.

Ray Hsu

 

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