Some lines of this poem were taken from Claudio Monteverdi’s Book 8 of madrigals, Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi, 1638.
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Ah! Contender for a contested territory The weight of my gear sours coursing norepinephrine Organs twisting with the pulse You waken death in my heart, give life to my song Contender: pardon not the body, which fears nothing, but the soul Frenzy amped into crushing cunts in houses squares schoolyards Boots forced through the viscous A torpor afterward, that unfathomable life-weariness Heaven, earth, and wind fall silent Nights, contender, we grieve all our conquests Die from a desire for the victory We don’t await catharsis, just the next patrol into territory of uncompensated delirium A thousand times I die and a thousand I am born ∎