1.
A man
wanders.
He is confused.
He is found
as far away
as New Brighton.
His sons are veterans.
His sons are boys.
His son is dead.
His wives are dead.
His wife
will be in contact
with the hospital.
His son, later,
will never speak of this.
He will say
to his children,
my parents are dead
and that is that.
The records give up their trace.
The record gives us its sorrow.
2.
A girl,
reared on Ladybird histories
of Kings and Queens
decides not to believe
in Charlemagne.
He is traversing
the pages
of History 125
with too much alacrity.
She cannot fit
his stride, his illiteracy
the theatre of his coronation
into pretend Europe.
It is easier to read
about the peasants
who yearly changed their clothes.
3.
This room was built in 1972.
This grave was erected in 1895.
This memorial is for a child
who is not buried here.
The man’s son is not where
it says he is.
The man’s other sons are
not here either.
The room is called Science Two
but there is no science in it.
The girl is stacked beside a ream
of notes and textbooks.
She imagines the man,
imagining her.
She is the subject
of his dream.
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