Read an Excerpt
7
If there is something to desire,
there will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.
If there was nothing to regret,
there was nothing to desire.
9
I broke your heart.
Now barefoot I tread on shards.
11
Let us touch each other while we still have hands,
palms, forearms, elbows . . .
Let us love each other for misery,
let us torture each other,
mangle, maim,
to remember better,
to part with less pain.
16
Whose face and body would I like to have?
The face and body of Nike.
I would fly past all those Venuses,
would have nothing to do with Apollos.
With the wind chilling my shoulder
I would leave behind forever the hall of plaster copies!
71
Self-Portrait in Profile
I
am the one who wakes up on your left.
76
Am I lovely? Of course!
Breathlessly I taste the subtle compliment of a handmade caress.
Chop me into tiny bits,
caress and tame my soul,
that godly swallow you love to no end.
78
Basked in the sun,
listened to birds,
licked off raindrops,
and only in flight the leaf saw the tree and grasped what it had been.
91
dropped and falling from such heights for so long that maybe
I will have enough time to learn flying
