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3quarksdaily

An Eclectic Digest of Science, Art and Literature

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September 01, 2008

Monday Poem

///
Don Q. in Mahattan
--Biting the dust of '01Image_don_qixote_2 
Jim Culleny

Dining in Soho alone, a man
served by a girl with lip studs, nose ring,
and serpent tattoo uncoiling
from deep cleavage,
sees the new man of La Mancha,
in dim light across the room,
seated with his back to the street:

He topples a pepper mill with his fork
gesturing to his wife, Sancha,
vowing he'll redeem New York.

Sancha smiles and re-sets the mill in place
among constellations of pepper stars
strewn across formica space.

Between them supper's done:
spent dinnerware, filaments of flaked filo
circling half a buttered bun,
remnants of dense moussaka,
and that pepper mill now standing like a dustbowl silo
near languid cubes in tepid water.

Don (el Hombre), enemy of disorder,
sweeps a hand through this small universe
like a superanal patriot
and plows a thousand miniscule black galaxies
into his cupped palm
and dumps 'em on a plate.

He takes his tined baton
between forefinger and thumb
and sets a cadence in the atmosphere
thumping his undiffident drum.

Then Don, el futile hombre,
maestro of mishap,
conducts the ice and water glass
into long-suffering Sancha's lap.

///

Posted by Jim Culleny at 08:19 AM | Permalink

Comments

Great stuff Jim --- what's superanal?

Posted by: Felix E F Larocca MD | Sep 1, 2008 9:46:54 AM

Felix,

What it's intended to mean is a person who's obsessively compulsive to a magnificent degree, politically.

Someone who intends to sweep the globe with a righteous military broom no matter who or what ends up in the dust bin.

A nut.

Posted by: Jim | Sep 1, 2008 10:18:46 AM

Thanks Jim. An anal character would say Freud.

Keep up the great works!

Posted by: Felix E F Larocca MD | Sep 1, 2008 11:56:52 AM

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