History (III), and: Numbers, and: The Strategy

136 KASCHA SEMONOVITCH HISTORY (III) If you didn’t want anyone You wouldn’t know the first thing About history Which requires first and foremost Someone wanting someone Or something from someone else. Such as a witness. The habit of history is hard to break. The little favorites carry over: winners, losers. The rule is the rule Of the strongest. What does history tell us? Display! Display! For the sake of it And for others. 137 KASCHA SEMONOVITCH NUMBERS At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, The manna also fell. Oval—lit, coriander, Melon, resin. They gathered it up. So now, Nothing before me but this manna, this present, Uneaten, ubiquitous, but never endless, unprotected From the ravages Of birds. Why do you treat your servant so badly? Was it I who conceived this, was it I who gave birth? Did I rut, a mammal in the tent That I must now suckle, Sport of nature? The cucumbers, the melons, leeks, onions, Garlic. We used to eat without cost— Where can I get meat? Time parts my hair, runs his fingers everywhere I do not invite him do not resist. Smiles as you, at you— You watch as if you were not once my beloved lover, distanced. He is God’s gift. He says, Eat! And I, his Levite, Good for one generation only: Thick but alone. 138 This is a desert place, already late. I live in space. Meat still between my teeth I dig for myself the grave of craving. The hoodless vulture, Disproportionate in weight Tips in noonday sky, Proliferating in waste. The owl follows a rustle, but Death makes no sound and so The vulture smells; one hears time, one Smells space. 139 KASCHA SEMONOVITCH THE STRATEGY Time. A great board game played on flat sand Beside a tideless ocean. The pieces are moved; You can move the pieces. Adults stand, some on the sidelines, Regarding the action. Children roll around the ones Who’ve been taken, great ivory bones. The pieces leave Tracks as we drag them; they are waist-high And heavy. Turtles tread across, little paths Disturbing the borders. Sometimes a wind lifts in the autumn; sometimes The landscape moves too. The game Involves the ocean, but the ocean doesn’t Come nearer. It is impossible to believe There are oceans besides this one. In the ocean, I see nothing of my self. A jealous mirror, It guards itself. Not envious; it wants nothing Of us. The ocean has nowhere to go; we do. ...