Courtesy oF Ken Knabb’s Bureau of Public Secrets:
IF SHARKS WERE MEN (from Stories of Mr. Keuner)
“If sharks were men,” Mr. K. was asked by his landlady’s little girl, “would they be nicer to the little fishes?”
“Certainly,” he said. “If sharks were men, they would build enormous boxes in the ocean for the little fish, with [...]
Swim in the lake, for pleasure. The water
Which could drown you
Buoys you up.
Swimming you cleave it, behind you
It comes together again.
FINLAND 1940
I
We are now refugees in
Finland.
My little daughter
Returns home in the evening complaining that no child
Will play with her. She is a German, and comes
From a nation of gangsters.
When I exchange loud words during a discussion
I am told to be quiet. The people here do not like
Loud words from someone
Who comes from a nation of [...]
Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.
And he said they used to cheer Verdi,
In Rome, after the opera,
And the guards couldn’t stop them,
And that was an anagram for Vittorio
Emanuele Re D’ Italia,
And the guards couldn’t stop them.
Old men with beautiful manners,
Sitting in the Row of a morning;
Walking on the Chelsea Embankment.