Louvre Messages
The palace is always haunted.
The pond does not lack reflections.
* * *
The sea never reflects the sky quietly.
Empty mountains are indifferent to the presence of life and death.
* * *
This "moment" refuses to understand time greater than a moment.
Ordinary flowers of the moment form a collective.
* * *
Angels without a collective greet each other across generations.
Their remnants stars of a single era.
* * *
Don't try so hard, idiot:
The goddess of victory is the goddess of victory even without her head.
Putting her arms back on wouldn't make Venus any sweeter.
* * *
The gods stare at statues of gods to recognize themselves.
No matter how strong the sunlight is, it needs the help of lightbulbs.
* * *
But staring at anything too long
is an intrusion on its past and future lives.
* * *
Let your thoughts go wild, idiot:
Angels are angels because when they fly
they can see the dust on the heads of "everything."
August 18, 2023
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Translated from the Chinese by Lucas Klein
from At the Louvre
NYRB, 2024
