“Dark TV Screen,” by Charles Simic

“Dark TV Screen,” a poem by Charles Simic, appeared in MQR’s Fall 1991 issue.

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The memory of this day’s evil
Like a meatstall covered with flies.
Soul–flown through the open window.
Heart, too, chewed like a dog’s ball.

There’s a boot lifted above us all
As in a children’s book:
An army boot studded with nails
While the ants down below are scurrying.

O Cordelia, my name is Lear. My name is
Primo Levi. I sit naked between
The open window and the dark TV screen,
My hands and sex bathed in the fires of the evening.

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Image: Kentridge, William. “Drawing from Stereoscope.” 1998-99. Charcoal, pastel, and colored pencil on paper. Museum of Modern Art, New York.