Apocalypse

From Hereford library, two biographies –
Genet’s and Lawrence’s Women. Today
we shall live tremendously through others.
I smoke while reading on the river-bank,

mixing my adulterants, alertly
indolent as the wind brushes the leaves.
Some pages skim by, some detain with charm
or horror. Penalties and escapades

both quite beyond my capabilities.
I am a leaf unshaken from its bough.
Genet and Foucault; Frieda in her power:
I entertain such thoughts within my bower.