JUDE STÉFANto the ground by a thong after long bellowing
against the impure sacrifice
we bodies of dust
death, pity
—marilyn hacker
Emma Zola at Wimbledon Let’s Say
I kissed I thanked juliette récamier
a century too late
thanks to david and to baron gérard
equipped with a too-narrow channel
she was only loved the more for it
a needle pierced her chignon
your hands wanted to straighten her head
then descend the length of her tenderness
along with her beribboned dress
to her bare feet at the edge of the pool
the mild look of her brown eyes her carmine lips
having only loved in her place a coked-up girl
beauty vulgarity in the temple of white
tennis green
—marilyn hacker
Herrings and Birch Trees
Three herrings
and four trees
four trees in the meadow
under heaps of clouds
one leafless and one split
one bent and one whole
still o√ered to the winds
under the many-coloured clouds
three herrings on a plate
near a porcelain bowl
at noon for luncheon
and four russet trees
standing in the pale sun
at evening in autumn