After Mike Wallace’s Interview with Salvador Dali, 1958
I.
“At the base of all my thoughts are cauliflowers and rhinoceros horns.”
The logarithmic spiral is a type of perfection as is chastity.
In these modern times symbols are powerful, and I am a genius.
And so I am as sexless, self-similar and ancient as a fern.
I see an inverted abyssal trench in every rhino’s horn.
But I wear my diving helmet and walk on stilts.
See the rhino’s horn comes to a tip so it must be erotic.
And it is made from keratin, which is in my hair and in my nails,
So when I look down at my hands I see the moon’s reflections
And know God is tremendous and I can’t hide and am afraid.
I am afraid of ocean liners and grasshoppers.
I am afraid of ocean liners because they are luxurious and decadent
But do not sink to the bottom of the ocean.
I am afraid of grasshoppers because, although they are marvelous,
They chirp sexually, imperfectly and in dissonant tonalities.
II.
“I adore three things: luxury, old age, and weakness.”
Time is Camembert and angels are the cheese makers.
And because we are still in the atomic age these are anti-matter angels.
Our deaths will be bumpy, grey-skinned and beautiful.
Not erotic, but sublime, with the indulgence of feet swept off the ground.
See life is an ugly, horned striptease of blinding, binding libido.
I covered myself in evil smelling fish paste and glued myself to my lover.
In my adolescence, I kicked a legless beggar and loved the monarchy.
Then I wanted to become the next Napoleon, but I grew up.
Then I wanted to become a woman cooking something freshly caught.
But I discovered I was allergic to all the shellfish in the ocean.
I am still surprised when I order a steak and a lobster
And am not served a cooked, black rotary telephone.
by Austin Sanchez-Moran
Austin Sanchez-Moran has just completed his MFA with a concentration in poetry at George Mason University. He lives in Washington, D.C. This is his first publication.
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