Autoimmune

She denies but how can she deny
                    the
                          rule
                    to
                          which
                    she
                          is
                    an
                          exception      is she
autoimmune     no she is not.

- Anne Carson, Antigonik

Exhalation

Though I am long dead as you read this, explorer, I offer to you a valediction. Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so. I feel I have the right to tell you this because, as I am inscribing these words, I am doing the same.

- Ted Chiang

Why the Classics

2
generals of the most recent wars
if a similar affair happens to them
whine on their knees before posterity
praise their heroism and innocence

they accuse their subordinates
envious colleagues
unfavourable winds

Thucydides says only
that he had seven ships
it was winter
and he sailed quickly

- Zbigniew Herbert