A Muse for Monday

Poppy
~ Tomaz Salamun

Cover up the people when I step into the room.
Throw blankets, tents and powdered milk on them.
Bury them in the soil, I’m a hamster.
Wrap them in gauze.

Draw crosses over their mouths.
There’s a fire in the Laurentian Library.
Breathe bread and soil and rain,
choke your children with the brand of oars.

My soul is a dark sleepless agave.
A panther that breaks every cage.
Because when I step over the stars, which are my
work, white dust creaks under me.