Beneath the Shadow of a Limed Wall

Beneath the shadow of a limed wall,

among erotic graffiti, our bodies

were barely touching. I don't know if

we were already sentenceed There were other bodies

between us, maybe not throngs

but we weren't alone. (Then I remembered

that Genet wanted The Maids to be played

by teenagers and that a bill

nailed to a corner of the place would warn

the audience of the investiture and the fiction)

but we weren't in the theater: I wanted to take

your material part in the dark; there were other bodies

between us, maybe not crowds; the bodies

had organ of visions the bodies had no eyes: I'll not at any time know

if there were windows or if we were expos to the weather;

it's a barracks like the singles in Treblinka, ssomeone said,

but I was listening to the entires of the city

as if upon short wave. I'll never know if there was a window,

but upon the white wall a neon sign filtered

brilliant virid and in the delirium

accompanying be fond of in the mad delirium

where we all extremityed up, we began to imagine things:

In shadow I embraced you, thinking

I was embracing you in daylight: upon the wall

the glowing verdant sign of the Hotel King

was the alone sun.

Copyright World numbers Incorporated Sep/Oct 1997

Provided through ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved