72

Dan Schapiro

“Desirability Is Disposability.”
—Vqueeram Aditya Sahai

“The apocalypse is not when the world ends; it’s when one
single person is killed. The entire universe becomes
deformed when one single person is tortured.”
—Raúl Zurita (trans. Daniel Borzutzky)

 

The verdict seemed unanimous
that they be re membered
as they lived, lined

Up for valuation       grief relegated to pleasure
Able   quanta      arranged in a … classical

GRID… a back-formation from the 13th
century  —  gridiron  —  a device
on which victims were ‘secured’
before tortured          & burned
…………………………….by fire

It’s all the same                           loss
even children       are a technology
babbling
in service of water
….with out realizing                 my  hands  turn  into  a
……………………………………cup


Dan Schapiro is a disabled poet living with HIV in New York. HOLEPLAY, his first book, writes through and about images and illness. He is @gayforcommunism.

Consider supporting Protean Magazine on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!