"Monstrum (Lat.) from the Verb Monstrare"by Tomaž Šalamun

Monstrum (Lat.) from the Verb
Monstrare


I add to the story, because no doubt
there will be many theses on
who I am.  My life is clear the way
my books are clear.  I am
as alone as you, voyeur.  Like you
I flinch if someone sees me.
I look into your eyes.  We both know
the question. Who kills?  Who stays?
Who watches? The one furiously
taking his clothes off to be innocent,
isn't that a mask?  Your heart beats
because your blood beats.  You have
the same right as I do, I, who am
your guardian angel, your monster.


Translated into English by Tomaž Šalamun and Phyllis Levin.

Source of the text - Tomaž Šalamun, There's the Hand and There's the Arid Chair. Denver: Counterpath Press, 2009, p. 93.

Bourguignomicon: Demonstrate/prodigy. Unclothing the poet’s monstrosity while protecting/seeing the reader/voyeur, the poem includes 3 phases: I, who, & you.