Against Metaphor
for Santiago Calatrava
Chair is not Mine Sweeper
Chives not Tympani
Sweet Potato not Chimes
Tortoise-shell in Heat not the Port of Milwaukee at Quitting Time
I not the Grandson of Carlos Guevara Moreno
Frame not Bolivia with Lavender Mountains
Barrel Hoop not Acrobatic Girl with Pinned Braids
Dark Moth on the Kitchen Windowsill not Syllable of Julia de Burgos
Walt Whitman not Esprit d’Escalier
Ruana not Memory of Birth not Turning Torso
Clarinet with Reed not Dolphin in Underwater Caverns
Poems not Iron Lung not Kidney Transplantation not Faith Healing
Truth not Unpainted Back Door Half-Open at Cooper’s Rock, West Virginia
Ground Squirrel not Swallow not Dry Axel
6 and 496 not Perfect Pitch
Beads of rainwater Rolling down Pale Leaves of Broccoli not Ellipsis
How then should I explain to you the Undetonated Woman at once
on the banks of Lake Michigan and Texcoco who is my Sailing
Ship and White Bird and Kiss and Blowing Huipil Embroidered
with Orange and Lime Threads?