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FIRST AMEND MINTS

FRESH BREATH. FREE EXPRESSION.

Clevelandia: Annunciation
A Pome by Bloomsday


The world is recreated

a billion times a day

by Google maps

and Jesus traps

and souls above the fray.

These words are scored in stone

upon the rocky shore:

"He is faithful."

"He is faithful,"

is what the words implore.

The water washes sins away

as hands and face we clean,

Annunciates

Greek palindrome

in church tiles' waxen glean.

The weighted Dame leans overburdn'd

by Clair and Lakeside door.

her scales are tipped,

unjustily gripped,

which makes her feel a whore.

Partly-Inspired by Semi-Actual Events

Prague Remembers Everything

The Clock Parade

We are
Trapped in Prague without passports
No hope of escape from this cage with no bars
We fend for ourselves, but mostly each other.

Huff to the top of Petrin Tower – Hitler dreamt of imploding it.
The Josevof, pristine, crumbling cemetery
Where the sons and daughters of Moses, piled upon one another, aspire for eternity.
Hitler spared that, too.

White asparagus and white cheese rolled up in cottage ham,
Broken clocks reflected on our plates.
Jazz mystics, puppets tangled by alchemists, crystalline Mozart on folding chairs,
Gun battle church basements, walking ghosts, arm in arm.
Beloved infanta, the clock parade.

Garish, weathered puppets of death and resurrection 
Christ and apostles glide by on the gears.
The everlasting covenant will dong each half-past hour.

We are
Trapped in Prague without passports
No hope of escape from this bed without bars
We’re fond of ourselves, but mostly each other.

Joan Sutherland (1926-2010)

From the Libretto of Verdi's La Traviata


ALFREDO
We’ll leave Paris, my dearest,
Together we’ll go through life.
In reward for your past sorrows,
You’ll bloom into health again.
Breath of life, sunshine you’ll be to me,
All the years to come will smile on us.

VIOLETTA
We’ll leave Paris, my dearest,
Together we’ll go through life.

ALFREDO
Yes.

VIOLETTA
In reward for past sorrows,
I shall bloom into health again.
Breath of live, sunshine you’ll be to me,
All the years to come will smile on us.
Ah, no more!
Let’s go to church, Alfredo,
And give thanks for your return.
(She falters)

Stinchcomb Soundtrack

"And You Wanted to Dance, So I Asked You to Dance."