Saturday, January 26, 2013

"I have an orange, humbly spherical"



I have an orange humbly spherical
Picked recently, round, a message
To the earth or man, meant to fall
And I pass it to your hand, here:

Atlantean remnant, a keen invention
Sun in the sex of a tree, grinning.
Condensed light brimming
With a radiant and puckering juice.

The emperor’s astrolabe, Mandarin,
and the Khan’s million hordes—
Stars, round emissaries, traded
Along with almonds, silks, and spices.

Pierced with cloves, hidden in saddlebags
crossed the vast Gobi with spies,
Packed in crates, vested in Floridian
fountains of youth and Spanish outlaws.

Celestial dome, orange head of heaven,
Bald pate of Baudelaire baptized with melon
Segments insectoidal – crescent ears –
Wrinkled and fur-lined; moss-covered.

I have an orange here, humbly spherical,
Admittedly like any other globe, simple
Yet mirroring Akkadian blueprints.
Bottomless, endless, Man’s  golden orb blossom. 

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