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In restaurants we argue
over which of us will pay for your funeral
though the real question is
whether or not I will make you immortal.
At the moment only I
can do it and so
I raise the magic fork
over the plate of beef fried rice
and plunge it into your heart.
There is a faint pop, a sizzle
and through your own split head
you rise up glowing;
the ceiling opens
a voice sings Love Is A Many
Splendoured Thing
you hang suspended above the city
in blue tights and a red cape,
your eyes flashing in unison.
The other diners regard you
some with awe, some only with boredom:
they cannot decide if you are a new weapon
or only a new advertisement.
As for me, I continue eating;
I liked you better the way you were,
but you were always ambitious.
***
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Margaret Atwood read this poem on the air at WBAI in 1973.
ReplyDeleteHer second novel—SURFACING—was about to be published.
Her first novel—THE EDIBLE WOMAN—had been published
in 1969
I no longer have access to the 1973 WBAI program guide
but I swear to you...She was there
and so was Paul Yellowvan who said to her:
"I hate nuns with dirty habits"
[possibly a false memory but I insist on thinking otherwise]
-Oliverio