And She Was

–also a found poem from that book about Napoleon

The prestige reappeared in new forms

The glaring floodlights illuminated

The public was obliged to wait.

In the task of controlling her laughter

They sat on thrones.

It gave an air of legitimacy.

She viewed both sides with appalled intensity

Varying with the importance of the person who commissioned the work

And its symbolic details evoke triumph?

While bees and an eagle denote the emperor

She affectionately cradles

Him Who Was

Too afraid of hurting the child to hold him herself

Though no one died in the attempt

She satirizes the diplomatic posturing of dilettantes

The desire to create strong structures to contain it

Shows the climactic moment, when

Meteoric and unprecedented,

Of operatic magnificence…

A hero’s resting place

Prosaic with grandeur

Lives to tell

The tall tales.

Bearing arms for freedom

Her haughty beauty that cost him the infatuation.