in the heat of July

                                   au revoir

ELIZABETH

                                                     sailed with him

                artiste d’escape, topped with salute

                          “all america is an insane asylum”

You were juniper in the center

(Dorothy played earth)

no nice quiet paradise

                           when Brer Rabbit simply wd. not do

                                                                                            without you

        among reliced, ruined scapes of mnemosis

then:

in next year’s Italian summer

                                                                 surrendering to autumn:

                                  made him Ariadne

                          you, agility, left him, suicidal,

                                                                                        in frag.

ts

     Felix nupsit,

                                            the war’s over

Somewhere in yr. snarl was yr. tenderness

    you made it into CXIII

                                                                                          Fuck Olga,

                                             you knew there was no need to forgive

                                 and all life is dft.

                                                tangle of works left unfinished

I like to imagine you this way

                                                    areté

                              Did you lead him to the garden?

                                                   I hope he knew well yr. span

                                                                               young & admiring

                                                          I HOPE HE ENJOYED YOU AT 73

               his old leaf-vein, yr. young petal

                                                                          terrestre

           well-deserved coloniser of lands of waste wilderness & CXX

                                                                                                    oculus,

                                            I hope he indulged in usura

            whatever term he preferred

I dream yr. Lovers

                                rationalize his age to the benefit

                                                       of their masculinity

        how little they know

                                                                 his papyrus ......

                                         & songs eclipse ........

            ........ all their paradisos

                                  ......... and yr. too ........

            Did you realize too late you were luna

                                                                removing yourself from sol,

                          moth-light perhaps you fled,

                             half-light yr. union, you a-glow with him

       you, rarest of creatures

                                       of compensations

May my  fortuna be gentler

               but may yr. kindness & affection

                                                                           (wise tho fickle)

                                                                  find me

                                                                                 @ 73

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