Читать книгу The Lichtenberg Figures - Ben Lerner - Страница 8

In my day, we knew how to drown plausibly,

to renounce the body’s seven claims to buoyancy. In my day,

our fragrances had agency, our exhausted clocks complained so beautifully

that cause began to shed its calories

like sparks. With great ostentation, I began to bald. With great ostentation,

I built a small door in my door for dogs. In my day,

we were reasonable men. Even you women and children

were reasonable men. And there was the promise of pleasure in every question

we postponed. Like a blouse, the most elegant crimes were left undone.

Now I am the only one who knows

the story of the baleful forms

our valences assumed in winter light. My people, are you not

horrified of how these verbs decline—

their great ostentation, their doors of different sizes?