14


                    I went to ask about those bollard jobs; they say they'd rather fill plastic mouldings with water
                                                              but apparently there are still openings for dab hands with a cleft stick
                                                                       to locate long lost landfills and recyclable cycles on the canal bed
                                                   or to map the coordinates of where wayward supermarket trolleys go to die
                             and nail small black disks to trees; this one, for example, is Comune di Milano No. 14909
                                          at least that's what the faceless information desk said adding by way of an excuse
that you can now pay to park your car by SMS, I wish someone would fax me Emanuelle Beart I replied
                                                                    i Milanes have all Gonzaga.
                                                                             The word is out:
                                                                               a goat-rat pact
                                                                                    a M.U.D.
                                                                                  in the mud
                                                                  nutrias dressed as Care Bears
and armed to the teeth with tiny brillo pads for adjusting graffitti to make it fit:
"Berlusconi has collapsed!" signed AdverCity Passive
now carefully restored by Little Paws to: "Long fool Frankless years"
a heap of sawn off serifs left jingling at the wall base:
                                                                                   New Roman
                                                                                                   ends up as
                                                                                                                   Faux Wiggly
The little critters craved relocation schemes and a sense of community:
                                       some stuffed putty between their toes for speed of movement
                                             and plunged headlong and newly finned into the Naviglio
                                          where I once saw a side of pork bob past the Cartiera Binda
                                                    roll and catch the light; a glistening City Of Lard
                                    others gnawed slabs of the tow path loose, eking out a sort of barge
                                                      wherein to stow dreams and other provisions
                                                                   in view of winter's lateral wipe
                           sensing the first cold out there somewhere: sharp invisible chrome-clean peaks
                                                     under the filthy drape of unbreathable autumn
                             you might have crossed paths off Chioggia, paddling your little bit of England,
                        they are armed with very pistols, they sing their rodent shanties through the night
                                     the rest fell foul of brutally trained folk with unquestionable values
                                                able to inflict the Viking Horn Hold and a Troll's Death
                          Once the goats-on-a-bender area has been cordoned off, a sign should be put up:
                                                                                GOATSVILLE
                                                                                 Twinned with
                                                                              Goget'embreaux
                                                                         Little Nobbit on the Sly
                                                                  And perhaps that German fish. . .
                                                                                     G O A T
                                                                                           O
                                                                                       G A T
                                                                                         A T
                                                                                         G O
                                                                                        T A O
                                                                                            G





December 2006          Milan