[native vegetation a natural resource] Poem by Daniel Falb

native vegetation a natural resource, the very gesture - ethnic
in this accelerating humanity go-round and you,
the face on which you're riding.
the miss-pageant report started right there.

before remodeling provisionally migrants were
housed in the hall, and now again.
we had to go, you looked simply exquisite, or
i did. the international face was surely

a gateway to the world, but who could keep on watching.
and in the open spaces of these reserves, the party,
we stood knee-deep in the grass, and i didn't know
where to look.

Translated by Brian Currid