Rococo and Other Worlds: Selected Poems

I Invented Poetry

65 I Invented Poetry The Moroccans invented the papyrus the Phoenicians, the alphabet I invented Poetry The grave-digger invented the oven Those who appropriated the oven invented the bread ticket The bread eaters invented the queue and learned the chorus With ants joining the bread-queue Starvation was invented The mulberry-seller invented the silkworm With silk, poetry made the girls’ wardrobe For girls dressed in silk, the procuress invented the palace where they betrayed the silkworm’s domicile Distance invented the galloping charger Speed, the chariot And when defeat was invented I was thrown in front of the speeding chariot But by that time poetry had invented love Love invented the heart The heart made tent and canoes and traversed far-off lands 66 The eunuch invented the fish-hook and slipped away piercing it in the slumbering heart To catch the line to which the heart was snared Auction was invented And tyranny invented the final bid I bartered the whole of poetry for fire and burnt the Tyrant’s hand ...