setting out,
                       a scarlet flower
           behind an ear,
into the wide
                 world        into
                       banner-adorned cities
  faking
         permanent festivity

*

          the road
                             turns an angle
         like the dateline does
                                      near Tuvalu

*

once,     it’s said,      anticipating  promise,
                they  murmured
                                 as they crossed,
             ‘Bush’                                      like
                   ‘ boo schh       boo schh ’
and
                       no reply
                                                   came
*

sprained                         westoxified
                   all-signed-up
                                         for ‘NightTalker’,
        ( the wine is under
                                    the table somewhere)
               crying becomes
                                a critical criterion
(the flower
                  discarded )

*

the public sphere
             is
newly            perceptibly
                                       losing memory

*

re    mem    ber      Bam,
           Arg-e Bam
ancient city of sand
                             and mud
                       collapsing in an earthquake,
the cultural heritage building
              slipping         subsiding,
                                                  consigning
         any record
             of the archaic ruin
                                            to dust

*

the memory
               is
                    ruined

*

who can accept
                            a given world,
who can
            live in it ?