Repetition Nineteen. Mónica de la Torre

Equivocation

      UNO. Um solemnly, Ina llama dada.

      Um Sorbonne de café antes de que super smart.

      Um boho denture de um sfumato.

      Dos casinos para ulna trajectories

      Y sue know surmise do la siesta.

      Chanting selenide son dos

      Car la yard y spared dos lives,

      Dos yoyos queen ya son tres.

      Tres Esc. pass y Varangian,

      Um compile, um evenly.

      Tres libidos abort, tres franks de sal.

      CIA vexes duh dime too bomb y nada.

      CIA Esc. lo gizmo queer dos.

      Y Si cinch vexes etc. pregnant

      Y Queen aqua queer too came

      Female ardor y veteran.

       Birdwatching

      puerta corrediza

      Behind the sliding glass door, a cinderblock wall

      bloque de ceniza

      demarcates a small concrete patio.

      tangible

      A window-shaped opening frames a shrub

      oportunidad

      of many branches growing on the slope,

      sucursales

      Or is intended to frame, if intentionality can be attributed to a hole,

      incriminar

      The shrub, like all living things, surpasses the wall’s edges.

      barreras

      Two dirt-covered outdoor chairs, of a hue

      autoridades sombra

      of blue that wavers between deep sky blue and azure,

      triste ondear en medio de

      Facing each other and empty, their colors mirror

      vano su carácter

      the plastic in the abandoned dustpan and broom at the outer edge,

      perdido

      tilting toward the soil, as if to sweep it up.

      redada

      The cleaning liquid’s solvents discolored the chairs

      autoridades

      Three chemical agents account for the faded hue:

      desvanecido

      denatured alcohol, methyl alcohol, and ethyl acetate.

      estrechos

      Four continuous, discrete sounds, all announcing nothing: a screech, a hammering, a siren, a buzz.

      nereida cuchicheo, telefonazo

      hacer chatarra de nervios

      Totaling five. The top edges of the patio’s walls and an angular adjaacent roof jut against the landscape to bring geometry into sharper focus. The building knows what to do there.

      penetrante

       Updated Prior Inscription

      Behind a gliding glass door, a wall made of blocks of ash

      demarcates a small tangible patio.

      A window-shaped opportunity frames a shrub

      with many subsidiaries growing on the slope.

      Or intends to incriminate, if we can attribute intentionality to a hole.

      The shrub, like all living things, surpasses the border’s edges.

      A couple of grimy authorities outside, of a shadow

      of sadness suspended amid deep sky blue and azure.

      Before one another and hollow, their character mirrors

      the plastic in a dissolute dustpan and broom at the outer edge,

      tilting toward the dirt, as if to raid it.

      The debt-free agents distress the authorities.

      Three ghosts behind the vanished hue:

      non-naturalized, methane-derived, once associated with ether.

      Four continuous, finite channels, all announcing nothing:

      a screech, a hammering, a mermaid, a ring.

      Wrecking five. The superior nerves of the patio’s walls and an angu-

      lar adjacent roof jut against the landscape to bring geometry into an

      invasive focus. The structure knows what to do there.

       A Big, Beautiful Wall

      One. No din, a flash.

      A sip of a hot drink made from roasted and ground seeds found bitter

      after swallowing.

      A bottomless pit.

      Twofold roads, one path

      and shut eyes, unawake.

      Two looking glasses are how many?

      With dusk come lights.

      Two children, now three.

      Three is oath, is stillness,

      a chum, a foe.

      Three truths, three lies.

      Four times the speaker said nothing.

      Four and two are the same.

      Having asked five times

      why she’d stay there, she set the bed on fire

      and left, letting it burn.