Bob Perelman translating Arthur Rimbaud

flat out flooring it
naked covered in glitter
skinny as a stick
a seahorse on each shoulder
didn't need a tank
july heat firing
straight down

oversensed  
twitching to all the biology
for fifty miles
spooling into a single thread
yanking me back
to the Alamo
to Six fucking Flags

it's like crucifying your old comics
those wide open pages
seeing the shapes of desire
language optional
just that once
then all the rest of time stuck asking
when life's going to start?

Bob Perelman

Translator Bio:
Bob Perelman has written many books of poetry, including *Iflife*, *Ten to One*, and, with painter Francie Shaw, *Playing Bodies*. A new critical book, *Modernism the Morning After*, is forthcoming. He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Author Bio:
Rimbaud!

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