Ersatz Ignatz
By Monica Youn
The clockwork saguaros sprout extra faces like planaria stroked by
a razor. Chug
say the sparrows, emitting fluffs of steam. Chug chug say the piston-powered
ground squirrels.
The tumbleweeds circle on retrofitted tracks, but the blue pasteboard welkin
is much dented by little winds.
The yuccas pulse softly under the grow-light sconces.
Here is the door he will paint on the rock.
Here is the glass floor of the cliff.
He’ll enter from the west, backlit in orange isinglass, pyrite
pendants glinting from the fringes of his voice.
Monica Youn, “Ersatz Ignatz” from Ignatz. Copyright © 2010 by Monica Youn. Reprinted by permission of Four Way Books.
Source:
Ignatz
(Four Way Books, 2010)
