Poem Five: Notes on Houdini II

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I survive the impossible.

Walk through walls. Breathe 

beneath water. I can break 

out of any box threatening death. 

Under lock and key two people 

change places in a locked trunk 

behind a screen. This is called 

metamorphosis.  The switching 

of self with others. Is it God 

or magic?  Can locks be opened 

just as the soul can be opened 

from the body? 

We change places.  

When the curtain is lowered

I disappear and you appear

like magic.  

Is it possible to come back 

from the dead?

I light candles.  

I play the tambourine.

But still, you cannot see. Touch 

fire without getting burned.

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