Daniel Borzutzky
a poem
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Bureaucratic Love Prevention Game 2
Two bodies intertwine on the edge of a great ravine gazing lustfully at the dead flowers and wondering what will happen to their bodies if they cannot attach themselves to other bodies. In the village the bodies are electrocuted for coming into contact with other bodies. The bureaucrats hypothesize that the bodies will adapt and learn to live with the jolts of electricity that run through their blood and bones when they touch other bodies. The bodies soon adapt and find the smell of singed skin to be aphrodisiacal. The bodies observe each other as they negotiate the currents of electricity that ignite with each touch. I love you more and more as your body shrivels to ash, says one body to another. In the lookout towers the bureaucrats record the moment with pride--in their ability to determine future behavior. The air is encoded so that the bodies will only touch if they think there is a hole in the sky into which they will fall at the moment when their love can not be detained. The bodies flash in the night and the words that emerge from their mouths evaporate as soon as they are spoken. The bodies push through the electric jolts and commune beyond the bureaucrats' wildest expectations. But when the electricity ends the bodies retreat from each other and do not speak until another body in the village is jolted. The expressions on the bodies' faces are impossible to describe when they try to sneak in affectionate words amid the jolts of electricity that hit them. Lasting image 2493-132 shows a body being struck down by lightning as another body attempts to pull it into the swampy mud. Lasting image 342.229a2 shows a village full of motionless bodies sprawled on the ground as if dead. The bureaucrats do not anticipate the complete lethargy that overtakes the bodies when they are not struck with jolts. In the face of this lethargy, the bureaucrats are afraid of the silence, the stillness, the darkness, and the determination of the bodies to move only for the sake of attaching themselves to other bodies, only for the sake of being jolted by electricity. The silence in the day time is impossible. Thus the bureaucrats, in order to counteract this lethargy, enforce a culture of non-stop diurnal movement: from sunrise to sunset the bodies walk in circles all day without touching each other. No body can be silent or sedentary while the sun is out. In the daylight the bodies circle endlessly while at night they wait for the love they will receive. The electricity on the body is nourishing. The flashes in the night are nourishing.
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return to sawbuck 3.4
**
Daniel Borzutzky's books include The Ecstasy of Capitulation (BlazeVox, 2007), Arbitrary Tales (Triple Press, 2005), and the chapbooks One Size Fits All (Scantily Clad Press, 2009) and Failure in the Imagination (Bronze Skull Press, 2007). He is the translator of Song for his Disappeared Love by Raul Zurita (Forthcoming, Action Books); Port Trakl by Jaime Luis Huenún (Action Books, 2008); and One Year and other stories by Juan Emar, which was published as a special issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction. His writings and translations have been published in dozens of print and online journals. He lives in Chicago.
**
Bureaucratic Love Prevention Game 2
Two bodies intertwine on the edge of a great ravine gazing lustfully at the dead flowers and wondering what will happen to their bodies if they cannot attach themselves to other bodies. In the village the bodies are electrocuted for coming into contact with other bodies. The bureaucrats hypothesize that the bodies will adapt and learn to live with the jolts of electricity that run through their blood and bones when they touch other bodies. The bodies soon adapt and find the smell of singed skin to be aphrodisiacal. The bodies observe each other as they negotiate the currents of electricity that ignite with each touch. I love you more and more as your body shrivels to ash, says one body to another. In the lookout towers the bureaucrats record the moment with pride--in their ability to determine future behavior. The air is encoded so that the bodies will only touch if they think there is a hole in the sky into which they will fall at the moment when their love can not be detained. The bodies flash in the night and the words that emerge from their mouths evaporate as soon as they are spoken. The bodies push through the electric jolts and commune beyond the bureaucrats' wildest expectations. But when the electricity ends the bodies retreat from each other and do not speak until another body in the village is jolted. The expressions on the bodies' faces are impossible to describe when they try to sneak in affectionate words amid the jolts of electricity that hit them. Lasting image 2493-132 shows a body being struck down by lightning as another body attempts to pull it into the swampy mud. Lasting image 342.229a2 shows a village full of motionless bodies sprawled on the ground as if dead. The bureaucrats do not anticipate the complete lethargy that overtakes the bodies when they are not struck with jolts. In the face of this lethargy, the bureaucrats are afraid of the silence, the stillness, the darkness, and the determination of the bodies to move only for the sake of attaching themselves to other bodies, only for the sake of being jolted by electricity. The silence in the day time is impossible. Thus the bureaucrats, in order to counteract this lethargy, enforce a culture of non-stop diurnal movement: from sunrise to sunset the bodies walk in circles all day without touching each other. No body can be silent or sedentary while the sun is out. In the daylight the bodies circle endlessly while at night they wait for the love they will receive. The electricity on the body is nourishing. The flashes in the night are nourishing.
**
return to sawbuck 3.4
**
Daniel Borzutzky's books include The Ecstasy of Capitulation (BlazeVox, 2007), Arbitrary Tales (Triple Press, 2005), and the chapbooks One Size Fits All (Scantily Clad Press, 2009) and Failure in the Imagination (Bronze Skull Press, 2007). He is the translator of Song for his Disappeared Love by Raul Zurita (Forthcoming, Action Books); Port Trakl by Jaime Luis Huenún (Action Books, 2008); and One Year and other stories by Juan Emar, which was published as a special issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction. His writings and translations have been published in dozens of print and online journals. He lives in Chicago.
Labels: 3.4, daniel borzutzky, winter 2009/2010
