"Snow / Bell," "Late night radio," and "After Hölderlin"

Snow / Bell

The telephone is
by Michelangelo,
 
sculpted from the
Carrara marble
 
that he loved so
much. Is displayed
 
on a basalt plinth
with a bronze
 
plaque in the topside
corner that details
 
its provenance. No-
one else around in
 
the Uffici when it
rings so I pick it up.
 
"Hello," I say in
a somewhat hesitant
 
voice. Silence. Then a
response. "Ma dove sono
 
le nevi di un tempo?"

Late-night radio

brings out Markov chains
of naked midgets &
gay Mafia rappers, makes
sense of crazy theories. In its
quintessential form, black-
 
suited men are tempted to
shimmy their ears & official-
looking women to spin
their Lilac Easy Spin Nipple
Tassels (Large) in order to
 
re-open long lost views
of snow-melt tarns with
shallow margins & gin-clear
water. There’s no real
knowledge or skill here—
 
just real-world fishing
techniques from the pages
of the world's largest auto-
motive magazine &
evidence on how the true
 
origins of famous American
words help moisten the skin
when localized in the vicinity
of synaptic junctions of
cultured cortical neurons.

After Hölderlin

Provided they came 
in fancy wrapping, the 
German intellectual 
of the interwar years
could perceive utility 
in nerd glasses that
Would Make Anyone 
Look Smart. He had a 
banjo, & was in the
jewelry business, too.