Fabrication

The government was bankrupt
and the neighborhood impoverished.
Someone in the ministry decided
and the military donated a tank,
actually flat-bedded one to the area
and just abandoned it there. It had
been worth millions. The children
played on it first, hid and climbed,
found places to nestle. Artists
anointed it with paint, graffiti
and selectively removed rivets
and panels, which became futons,
lamps, chairs, and sculptures,
mute comments on the industrial.
Time passed, and in desperation
the hungry scavenged fasteners,
rods, sprockets and bushings,
which after thorough rinsing
and baking proved a new source
of nutrition – trace minerals
in particular – which graced many
tables while the tank resembled
more and more a skeleton.

   

Michael Favala Goldman (b.1966) is a poet, jazz clarinetist and translator of Danish literature. Among his sixteen translated books is Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen, which made the New York Times Best 10 Books of 2021 as book three of The Copenhagen Trilogy. Michael’s five books of original poetry include Small Sovereign, which won first place at the 2022 Los Angeles Book Festival in the poetry category. His work has appeared in dozens of publications including The New Yorker, Rattle, and The Harvard Review. He lives in Northampton, MA, where he has been running bi-monthly poetry critique groups since 2018. https://michaelfavalagoldman.com/