A Magnetic Personality

marc-antonizes.

Somehow it organizes

the mob—like so

much lead—into rank

and file. Somehow

it stands us

rabble up and makes

a row of men stiffen

or a rose of lead filings

arise. A rose is a rose

that arose, a magnetic

personality very

nearly said. She knew

how to draw

this one painter

to her place in Paris

and make him something

greater. (She knew

how to cube him.)

But the magnetic

can turn on

a dime and go

all red like a face

of a Rubik’s Cube.

In fact, its flip

side can repel what it

once sucked in—

all those friends,

Romans, countrymen,

cubists.