Limits / The Lingua Franca
by Mohamad Said Bazzi
(2021)
1 /
I do one good thing right
Then I do two
Wrong things badly
A run, a pun, a rattling gun
My footprint weighs a ton
On the surface of the sun
But the flames would have won
Me over
2 /
Roots loom larger
Yarn and all
Storied rumors
Pink and purple
And yellow beauties
Out for spring
Bundles of joy
Laden with the burdens
Of ended winters
They come along for the ride
One more uninvited visit
One last reminder
Of yesterday's frenzy
3 /
Recently I have been pre-eulogizing
The dismantling of our age
The mantling of our epoch
I miss the world
It’s gone forever
We were unknown
And laughed together
We were unknown
And ran together
4 /
I wander unseen
In the intervals between dreams
All around me
The pretended densities
Of hollow bodies
Patsies and operatives
Absurd bridges
Unknowable lines
Recitations and murmurings
Feeble conjunctives
Limits and surrogates
Suffer / the Lingua Franca