"The MAG"

DANIEL PANTANO

Daniel Pantano's background is multinational and multicultural. Of Italian and German parentage, he was born in Langenthal, Switzerland, in 1976 and educated in the United States. He received a degree in philosophy from the University of South Florida in 2003 and is currently working on his M.A. in English. Pantano is a widely published poet in both English and German. He speaks six languages and, at the moment, lives in Brandon, Florida, with his wife and two children.

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TABLE 8

And splinters of scrambled thoughts
seem indecent.

Paddling, staggering back.
His gaze stitched onto her dress.

He finishes dinner
and remains, evermore
feeling comfortably fascinated

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FOR THE TIME BEING

in the city reared by the artifice of eternity
the whore dresses in a black sail
dyes her hair a Roman blonde
and conceals her face with a dripping net

she bewails the senile scarecrow
who has forgotten his body is anchored in rippled soil
forgotten the salmon always returns to arouse
forgotten the lips of his soul are burning sages

forgotten the drowsy Emperor¹s lullaby:
the green beast crushing a stick on the shores of Byzantium

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WITH FIONA, AGE 2, IN THE GARDEN

You enjoy no equals
in the infinite world of perception.

Recognize the root of an appearance,
advance with confidence and ease,

respond to its smiles as you turn
to behold my ignorant gaze.

Know that your every glance assembles
my reunion with the essence of existence,

my retreat from time and knowledge:
science of life¹s bastard progenies.

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MATTANZA

The aroma of conquest, ovation, blood, lecherous laughter,
threatening . . .nude fever

Heroes castrated by the approaching midnight edge of June

Call the poets! The poets!

They must hear the liturgical song
of the tunny-fisher rising from the bloody sea
as the tuna succumbs to the death-room
as hooks penetrate the salty air
and boats violently wrestle with watery breasts!

Empty bottles of red wine robe the tables, but the fishermen
demand more drinks, more drinks----the protest of salt-eaten skin

The uncertainty of the following morning

But the night defends her drunken ecstasy
and all are happy to know Time preferred to remain home

m.a.g.