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Method of Metaphor
The car is not a fish.
To say it is
would be a mistake.
Stars are not salt.
Sometimes, however,
goals are best
achieved by error:
a friend who warned
a visiting Bulgarian
to avoid hostels
in New York City
because of—she meant
to say—dŭrvenitsa,
bedbugs, but instead
said putka-vŭshki,
“pussy lice,” thus
achieving, as so often
occurs in domestic,
foreign, and artistic
exchange, proper ends
by improper means.
The man, shaken,
flagged a cab for
the nearest Hyatt.
The yellow machine
gasped and splashed
into the dark,
leaving my friend
alone, behind,
below the salt. |
