V
from
NEW INFORMATION CONCERNING CARL AND CLARA (1996)
‘You’re Russian?’ ‘No, virus-ian AIDS,
life’s teacup smashed to little bits,
piss-artist playing walk-on parts;
I grew up over there, that’s it.’
‘You’re Loseff?’ ‘No, Lifshits am I,
the prat who fell for girls with brains,
and yawnmakers with charming ways
who bore an inkstain you know where.’
‘You’re human?’ ‘No, I am a shard,
a chunk chipped off a Holland stove,
with pond, and mill, and country road,
and where it leads, God only knows.’