Remember this is only temporary.
Do not count this job as your
final solution.
Use copious emoticons.
Germans have no love for wordplay
but understand the tactical value
of whimsical punctuation.
Lower expectations.
They cannot be expected to understand
the trouble with summing up Africa
in two lines. At least they fly there
without guns or gas.
Make art.
Believe that they are subsidizing it.
If you stop creating beautiful things,
signs of life on their dime,
even for a day,
you are lost.
Most importantly, make lists.
These the Germans understand.
And if ever there comes a time
when it all seems too awful,
you must have a justification
for your compliance
with these sins
handy.
OH HI DINAH.
ReplyDeleteGreat, creepy poem: excellent ending, wonderfully quiet tone, and perfect diction of double-edged words. My only suggestion would be weirder line breaks to emphasize not just last words, but first ones, withholding the completion of the phrase and then twisting it. Some I thought while reading:
"Do not count this job as your final
solution."
"Germans have no love
for wordplay, but understand
the tactical value of whimsical
punctuation."
"Make art.
Believe that they are subsidizing
it."
"you must have a justification
for your compliance with these
sins handy."
Especially that last one: I absolutely love the internal pun you've established with "sins handy," calling to mind the utter, brutal materiality of a horrific past, and the complicity of one working in it. Handy, being of-hand, a hand-in-it. Pushing the words together on the line makes that even stranger, even more confusing, because it tempts one to read it as "with these sins-handy" like it's a monstrous compound word.
Dangerously good first poem to follow.
Germans... understand the tactical value of whimsical punctuation.
ReplyDelete:)
"signs of life on their dime"
<3
Dinah! So much to relate with in this poem. Thank you -