Állatkert
A K-car or school bus or Suburban to tour the
living bestiary of the plains. Point and this is
the North American land-dwelling water horse,
the mountains, cold north, snow, and each hide
is a map splotched with continents, aerial views of
possible worlds where a cow is a hippo, where a
hippo is a horse, where Hungarian is Latin, where
the Suburban is broken down at the Petro-Can just
outside of town, bus broken down in the Kananaskis,
K-car stuck in the city snow. Black squirrels
scramble up birch trees, cows graze, a field
of hay bales a bowl of giant Shredded Wheat and
the time rolls by, foothills roll into Rockies, snow
settles, packs into ice on the sidewalk. You are
a quiet little creature, snow mammal,
prairie dweller, adapted from a temperate
climate, the rhythm of your hibernation,
the Latin of your silly jokes.
B
Belváros
You wait, this charming place,
luminous towers,
columns of bells,
chimes that scrape the evening sky.
The inner city, sunset,
sheer walls of light reverberate
with all the tones and glow
of your resentment, this place.
You have hated the
wash of lustrous peach,
you have missed the
tinted clouds, the swell of
incandescent night.
The gong of evening
shimmers, clanging chorus of
traffic signals, sprong of fluorescent
signs in the twilight.
The glint of your reflection that
rings off the ground-floor windows,
alone you wait, cozy in
the awning of dusk
lilting from the buildings.
Sharp clang of memory.
Twinkle of memory.
Chime of the city.
C
Cukorka
Your reflection
splintered in foil
these solemn treats
this bitter history
sugary sweet
unhooked from the tree
you melt
a plastic angel dipped
in flames, blurred
and bubbling
you unwrap
the old world
you chew
and smile
you don’t swallow
until they look away.
Cs
Cserkészek
Check if you’re ready
Roll and tighten your neckerchief
Roll on your stockings, stand at attention
Deliver your lines with conviction
A more personable person
A more magyar Hungarian
Paint eggs, throw rosewater
Thread needles, weave leather
Serve dinner to your elders
Recite your practised lines
With your flawless intonation
With your perfect lack of understanding
How well you know your friends
Whom you cannot understand
Who cannot understand you
Savour the illicit snippets of English
Smuggled out to the parking lot
Together you roll and ignite secrets
D
Duna
The river flows clear or muddy
you know the river flows cold
or warm or
The river cuts across countries
or it springs locally
