my first lover
was a German Jew
who sang me every German hymn she knew
She lit candles in my window
and posted poems on my door

Yeah, and then I left her and she cut herself.

(my last lover was a Dutch American
who worked for a bishop in the third or fourth world
she talked of being a virgin
but knew a thing or two
she fucked me in her holy compound
one Sunday afternoon)

1.
I renounce the title lover
I renounce a claim to love
i have simply been exploring
and there is nowhere left to look

(i wonder if,
back in some rainy day in the nineties
there was a shimmer on a quiet street for me
if by some grace of heaven
there was a chord struck in a sacred key)

2.
I renounce the title of person
I renounce a claim to kin
i simply kept on breathing
long after I had lived