The stage
is an erection of blaze
and hulking light,
stucco pediments
crowd the drapery’s blue nuage,
the after-
dinner scent highs
the quilted renifleur.
Glass warfare
of light
and dust
(Act III, sc. 1).
Fluid ‘goddamns’ spike
the tryst’s pretended
midnight:
coude of silk and shingled
chain.
Though the intended colors
are vengeful
crimson
and archdiocese black,
the workmen
idling over
smoking hammers,
bent over spades,
see the same as gawking
apple-girls,
powder blue
and moist orange.