I: Biographical Material

Wistful to us as daguerreotype
The photos of our dreams, and failing theirs.
Plages distanced only by the bathing suits,
Similar mourning of the cruel sea,
Its cheap peepshow of what the butler saw:
Skeleton in bright wardrobe, Bluebeard chez
The Villa Marie, wine and roses, wine.

Breaking down lifetime letters' danse macabre
To tighter terms of their lives' regimen,
The thrill of authenticity withdraws
A faster mayfly while a curving hand
Revamps the flapping Punch and Judy jinxed
Until the great hand closes up the box:
Future writes up the writing on the wall.


II: Going East
...