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The Last ActAuthor(s): Paul NelsonSource: The Iowa Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Spring, 1972), p. 14Published by: University of IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20157857 .
Accessed: 14/06/2014 20:16
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THE LAST ACT
On the way out he chose war, dashed the Emperor s damned amphorae
with a short sword.
?She should have come on heavy,
breathing like slaves?he said,
considering her big Nile dugs, her livened ass.
Tony knew
that war is a green girl always to f aU back on, to barely survive her thrashing, her inexperience with tongues
( Octavian's gift, snaking down the steps like a
purple robe to lie in).
He knew that f oreplay's the thing to catch an aging queen if you can end it.
RAMSES ADAMANT
Ramses said her verse
was divorced from her person, though she breathed it Uke a camel.
Her body works its hip on the lectern; her lower lip is hot and her asp eyes seek the faces before her
for one more oasis.
14
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