VADEMECUM - A SURVIVAL KIT

I would hold my eyes between my teeth

like a killer his knife
while he is tying up his victim.
In this way I can walk
almost safe
among the fittest;
and no one would know
I am but a Schöne Seele,

and no one would tell me:
watch out.
Who would bother with a cubist
harlequin?

Elena Malec, California 1997