From The Rose, which will be published this month by Graywolf Press.
Me & Amanda went to see David
Blaine the night of the Scorpio
Eclipse. He held his breath
For over ten minutes in an orb
Of water. I remember
His daughter doing a dance
Then we walked soft thru the casino
BBLs & tiny dresses, the lull of slots
& AC—there’s a feeling of safety
in there you know &
A powerful idea America hates:
that there’s dignity
In pleasure. Copious good quality intelligence
spent
Working out the right way to make even me
feel happy
Floating thru the crowd on the unnerving
Feats of David Blaine
We found our bodies drawn
Toward an almost serpentine
Cerebral energy—you could feel it yards
Away—before you saw them—a table of men
Poring over their cards like nuclear
Physicists on deadline—
Strange electric brain
Power physically stimulating
The asp uncoiled from its tree
Inside me, drawing us from the pink
Lights of the money machines
To halogen-white intensity
When a man dressed impeccably in gray
Looked up from his cards & stared
At me—long & hard
Lock of hair dropped over his brow
He held my gaze
Till I couldn’t take it anymore
& dropped my eyes—
Amanda gripped my arm
Wait—were we already walking arm in arm?
She, the beautiful one, steadied me
Did that really just happen I said
It really did she said. Give me a second I need
To catch my breath I said, steering us
Cowardly just slightly out of the guy’s
Sightline. I think
I understand Dante now I said
& also Beatrice. Did you know Petrarch’s Laura
Was the great-grandmother of the Marquis
De Sade? This is the kind of conversation
I make when I’m stalling.
What if one look is all you get
Century to century?
Only one poker room in this whole giant casino
This the era of the starved polar
Bear & the skinny lion—predators
In a growing wasteland devoid of prey.
The most famous game—font of metaphor—
Relegated to the back of the hall & only a few
Tables & most of them empty
Gorgonic eye fucking with me
He shocked me back into the ancient
World. Saw me back
Into poetry
For Amanda Fortini
