Columbus, wearing a night-gown made from a treasure map, Is sleepwalking on the giant avenues of an invisible sea. He dreams he had discovered the Isthmus of Compound Interest In his constant pursuit of the droppings of the One Historical Zero. Tears fall through the meridians of his hands. He is sad. His sadness makes the winds blow, Filling his sails with the algebra of abstract labor. Birds faint at his passing and the fish turn to stone. He is looking for gold that breathes and has dark skin And can be renamed @3Slave@1. The birds revive, screaming. In the dungeons of the King the dark zero grows wounds and weapons. At sea the waves trudge off in search of a new continent. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHILD AND HER STATUE by LOUIS UNTERMEYER HE RULETH NOT THROUGH HE RAIGNE OVER REALMES by THOMAS WYATT THE HOMECOMING by THOMAS HARDY THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS by CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE SONNET: 16. TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, MAY 1652 by JOHN MILTON A PRAYER, LIVING AND DYING by AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): EROS AND HIS MOTHER by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS |