This poem is taken from PN Review 215, Volume 40 Number 3, January - February 2014.
'Arthur's Pictures' and Other Poems
Arthur's Pictures
1.
The foolish lion is chasing the naked woman.
The pedals of the piano loll like swollen tongues;
the strings are spent.
I do not like the chances of her naked rump.
2.
Nebuchadnezzar claws the ground like the beast he is.
Something evil and pitiable is forming in the yellow light.
3.
The woman is all light -
her hair is golden light,
and her white clothes, diaphanous light,
and everything between us is light;
her touch upon me is light, and light
go her feet in their white slippers.
Her laughter's nothing but intensities of light.
The Effect of Spaceflight on the Female Body
Hear my song, Val - en - tee - hee - na.
Hear my song, in my gondola.
...
1.
The foolish lion is chasing the naked woman.
The pedals of the piano loll like swollen tongues;
the strings are spent.
I do not like the chances of her naked rump.
2.
Nebuchadnezzar claws the ground like the beast he is.
Something evil and pitiable is forming in the yellow light.
3.
The woman is all light -
her hair is golden light,
and her white clothes, diaphanous light,
and everything between us is light;
her touch upon me is light, and light
go her feet in their white slippers.
Her laughter's nothing but intensities of light.
The Effect of Spaceflight on the Female Body
Hear my song, Val - en - tee - hee - na.
Hear my song, in my gondola.
...
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