"Lament for Ur"

Dread is so bold it looks
    like us
Carcosa curse · but guest
    of sand

the nectar shore · of Ithuriel
where we ply oodoolay

Cerulean airspace
    charade
pour joker work Tokay
    furl robe

dragon rigor · not against slavery
spokesdog · for whirligig


A vindication that didn't want to be.


"In Llave del Náhuatl, a study of certain stylistic traits of the Nahuatl language, Garibay noted one of the principal and peculiar characteristics of the language. He called it 'difrasismo': 'It is a procedure in which a single idea is expressed by two words, either because they are synonomous [sic] or because they are placed next to each other. Several examples in Spanish will more suitably illustrate: a tontes y a locas, "recklessly"; a sangre y fuego, "by blood and fire"; contra viento y marea, "against wind and tide"; a pan y agua, "on bread and water," etc. This stylistic form, so rare in our languages, is usual Nahuatl. ...Almost all of these expressions are employed metaphorically...' " --Miguel León-Portilla, Aztec Thought and Culture (1963)


Gertrude Stein, detective.