The Vietnamese Arises

The Vietnamese arises
and pisses yellow, a complete person.
After all, it is allowed
even in New York (New York) where the river naively
blends the sky's light with every thing
available to create a complex metaphysics,
and the Empire State Building (here used as a metaphor)
descends at eve to drink and bathe
its frozen flanks in the lukewarm mud.
But the East River is no illusion;
the Vietnamese is aware of that when he surrenders
the Brooklyn Bridge (actually a bridge)
to assault his mirror image.

Translation P. K. Brask & Patrick Friesen assisted by Carol Novack
© Niels Hav