Secret
Itinerary
(of
the Doge’s Palace, Venice)
hypertext version
Rope
tightens. Somewhere a sob.
A Syrian cat’s eye glints in the roof
space. Behind wood-panelling,
parchments
wait in cabinets -
the knowledge economy,
hidden away from plush chambers,
shimmering
chandeliers.
Evidence, accusation,
whisper - all sweetly slide
into
the moist Mouth of Truth.
Canvases glide apart, to reveal
a passage. Below slippery words,
the
reality of numbers. Under
analogue runs digital,
beyond appearance, power.
Open
your mail only
in public according to the rules.
Be careful of attachments.
Concealed
in a bowl of gnocchi
an iron file. Beneath a gold cat-mask
there is always the face
which is itself a mask.