A Jugendstil tower. Myself quite new.
I heard the underbell flowers uncurl.

You were sitting on the little staircase. By all accounts, a pearl.
I stiffened. Limits were measured.

You were the sum of all you encountered,
become what you could not deter.

We were joined by the ladies’ confessor (and connoisseur),
self-absorbed as a Klein jug.

Зходячись, зникають один перед одним
терпляче —
через ведмедя і рибу — до ракоподібних,
які обліпили душу свою.
Тупцюють. Мружаться, наче змінюючи лінзи,
обом вочевидь пояси на куртках.

Коли я йшов Кам'яним мостом
і грав зіркових воєн маривом,
я несподівано відчув, що простір
став шелестким й багатошарим.

Navigating on roller-skates in the dark, I understand:
the country around me vibrates.
The spider’s mute web
reflects an equilateral slumber. Both Satan
and a cobra next to him would seem pusillanimous, two schlimazels.
On the other side of the glass, the spider is quieter
          than my phone in Basel.