Poem: "A Position of Defeat 1"





A Position of Defeat


Like lizards we bask in the light of phenomena,
Waiting for night;
But we will not fight,
We must not fight,
We stay for ever in a position of defeat.

            Michel Houellebecq, The Art of Struggle, trans. by Delphine Grass and Timothy Matthews


1.

the cancer sun of the computer screen
bathes now the dying flower of my face
the indices free-fall, in a coup de grace,
or fly up, tempting the empyrean

a meningitis strain is stalking me
through chatrooms and darkrooms and sleep mode
leers with the jewels of a horned toad
files its reports to the drug company

my teeth are rotting in their violent rant
a patch of bone had to be grafted on
to the jaw that’s not altogether gone
to anchor the screw-up of the implant

we must save up for a long rest of it
yes, but save what? a bank of shiny shrugs
i’ll go downtown to buy a big butt plug,
glass kind through which one can see all the shit


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