Are You the Devil?

A man with a unique
And uniquely worthless
Skill set would like to know

If he is or could be.
You cannot torture words
Or sentences, although

Words may call sentences
Tortured. We can’t stress this
Enough. Only humans

Can be torturers or
Tortured, and all the imps
Of language can only

Serve as accomplices.
A young woman presents
At the front of the class

And does not notice that
The whiteboard behind her
Is an ice-fishing pond

Of grey shadows slipping
Around under the ice.
On the one hand, there are

Parallels to bodies
Of work in translation
Bobbing to the surface,

Bumping up underneath
The ice that won’t let them
Breathe. On the other hand,

These aren’t like railroad tracks.
These parallels don’t match
To merge in the distance.