A Guided Tour
A poem about the Czech Republic
1 St Barbara
Remaining angels on the ceiling, the Virtues stood disproportionally
in the incomplete cathedral, looking down on us.
2 Kutná Hora Interlude
A bride with short, glittering hair is greeted by strangers fondling cameras.
3 The Bone Church
Chandeliers made of vaguely familiar fragments,
tourists beneath, smiling, their inevitable future staring at their backs.
4 The Bone Church, continued
I wanted to make obscene gestures: stick out my tongue,
pick an absent nose, blow a kiss — I don’t know why.
5 Following Bohemian Paradise
Our tour guide approaches us, brings up death, says,
What is natural cannot be bad.
