of Russian dreadnoughts to nought, Japan
tells
urbi et orbi
it's loathe to lurk
in the wings of geography. In Petersburg
those whose empty stomachs churn
take to the streets. Yet they won't return
home , for the Cossacks adore long streets.
A salesman of the Singer sewing devices greets
in Latvia the arrival of yet another
daughter, who is to become my mother.
In Spain , unaware of this clever ploy,
Pablo Picasso depicts his "Boy
With Pipe" in blue. While the shades of blonde ,
Swedes and Norwegians, dissolve their bond
And Norway goes independent ; yet
that's not enough to turn brunette.
Speaking of things that sound rather queer,
E is equated to MC2
by Albert Einstein, and the Fauvists
(Les Fauves
is the French for unruly beasts)
unleash Henri Matisse in Paris .
"The Merry Widow" by Franz Lehar is
the toast of the town. Plus Transvaal gets its
constitution called by the natives "the pits ."
And Greta Garbo,
La belle dame sans
merci,
is born. So are neon signs .
The man of the year, our record tells,
is neither Strindberg nor H . G . Wells ,
he is not Albert Schweitzer, not Oscar Wilde :
his name is obscured by his own brain-child .
(Camouflage)
"I am what gentlemen wear in the field
when they are afraid that they may be killed .
1 am called camouflage. Sporting me, each creature
feels both safer and close to Nature.
The green makes your sniper's pupil sore.
That's what forests and swamps are for.
The planet itself wears me: the design
is as French as it is divine. "
