A Splendid Wake - Friday, March 21, 2014, 6:30 pm.

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ModPo essay #4: Prepositions and Infinitives: A Mayer Experimental and Randomized Index

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If I were a sculptor I'd carve in stone The face of my beloved I'd sand the surface Of the stone To smooth perfection Because art should represent life As it is, and as It ought to be But I digress At a moment when discipline And precision are most required… I'd chisel her perfectly Centered nose, on her perfectly Symmetrical face With care and concentration I'd reproduce the mystic Contours of her forehead I'd round out her chin And save her lips For last Then I'd compare Her sculptured features To my own A grotesque genetic mixture Of master and slave Of Native and Negro My weathered face Overexposed and Burned to a deep hue I'd ask her: Is black still beautiful My African queen? My Goddess of the Nile?  Or has that fashion changed, That style gone out of style? But I digress again -  I am not a sculptor I am a poet And these words are All I have to preserve In time, for time, The beauty of my beloved
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