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Postcard from an Invisible City

by Bruce W Niedt

[after Italo Calvino]

I want to come home.
Here in the city of Precipia
the clouds have lowered,
black birds are leaving in V’s.
I toured a metalworking plant today,
and watched while works of art
were melted into weapons.
They took a gorgeous menorah –
bronze figures holding candles
as they danced the hora, all
twirling skirts, clicking heels –
and smelted it into sidearms.
Revolvers rolled off the line,
an endless array marching right,
facing east.
I want to leave
before they turn poetry to gunpowder.

01/20/2003

Posted on 01/21/2003
Copyright © 2024 Bruce W Niedt

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Agnes Eva on 04/04/03 at 05:26 AM

that's really striking and brilliant. that image will haunt me- of these little black letters crumbling into a deadly powder *shudder* (i've suggested it for poem of the day)

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