∞
Eclipse in Theory (Aegyptus) and Eclipse for Really (Tropics)
An ancient Egyptian torture,
my father said, used sentinels
to slice out the eyelids,
of men tied in limbo,
agonized sprawling akimbo
under the dragonflies’ bottoms
(I saw a hundred swaying cigars
with cinder bottom)
roasted pollen rain
in the open papyrus fields,
under the sun—
into the naked gazes of men—
lids like so many fish-scales–
their bodies fertilized
the papyrus harvest,
the paper, for future contracts
and counterfeit administration—
He spoke of the gypsies’ banishment
from Egypt, for their misbehavior.
Mario believed in the evil eye.
I believed much of him—
.
—on Aruba, once, the brief
hour of an eclipse-node fell
like a coconut, similar speed
but soundless.
the black nucleus-nimbus
of the sun eclipsed
by the Luna, sliding into
his bright white mane fearlessly,
she parked her bottom there,
as if to say, “this midday
is my night,
eat my asshole, Solar Imperium—”
.
The black nucleus-cell tore
like arrowhead of Arawak
from Orinoco,
obstructing
the sun in its corona, jet-blackened
at the core, the corona
gangrened beautifully.
Not wearing special visors
I did not go blind, despite
the scare-story in the paper
of a thousand street-children
in Nicaragua piling up onto each other,
or was it Guatemala, and all
struck blind, their optic nerves
snapped as they lifted their
wondering gaze to the sky in eclipse—
Infra, Beta, and Gamma,
and who knows what else, anti-matter.
.
Corona fell away in the sand
(as coronas tend to do)
scorched into glass coffin,
it fell away, and the day bright returned
at 3 PM, morning at 3
or was it 4 PM, before
tea-time,
to awaken the sleepers
and the birds outnumbering
human islanders
burst into their cacophony
morning gong, old call to prayer,
repertoire sufficiently loud
to make the alarms of Pavlovian
plastic obsolete,
to awaken
the sleepers,
to awaken
those few,
the unemployed
lovers who had not slept
until tide of noon.
∞
Arturo Desimone is an Argentinean-Arubian poet and visual artist, writing in English, Spanish, and Papiamento. His work has previously appeared in sx salon, the New Orleans Review, Círculo de Poesía, BIM, Stockholm Review, and elsewhere.