Can An Evil Man Sneeze?

 

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No more than lovers or mathematicians can.
His malevolence and their ardor
and calculus are so many figures
destroyed on clear nights in rocked pools.
Each returns as if an aimless passerby
-- who hit the water – is content
with the damage done. Schemes take shape,
lips press back, and symbols chalk cortices.
A sneeze itself’s autonomic,
like blessings on convulsed strangers
who may not care to thank us.