MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2001

second half

Any war, just or not, is in some ways a war against the self. This poem is an exploration of that idea. All the key words in this poem originated in Arabic lands, traveled into Spain, then Mexico, and are now common in the United States.

Arabesque

To decipher algebra

while dancing in a field of alfalfa,

To hide in an alcove

playing the flute,

To eat an orange dusted with alkali,

then drink lemon water,

To witness a sultan

worshipping lapis lazuli,

To taste azure sugar

decreed by an almanac of zero:

We are the albatross admirals

in this alchemy of chess.

Hector Q. Mooney