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C17H21NO4 (a poem about cocaine)
Published Jan 1, 2023
Updated Jan 1, 2023
Culture
3 min
Culture
Published Jan 1, 2023
Updated Jan 1, 2023
3 min
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C17H21NO4 (a poem about cocaine)
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C17H21NO4
1.
In April 1505, as Spanish cruelty was soaking
into the ground on the Inca coca plantations.
the coca bush, with its characteristic velvety swishing,
marched into Europe.
You’re telling me this, your fingers embracing the bottle’s
cool neck, and the bottle in turn the black, ribbed taste:
a double encirclement. As you open it, the hiss bends
up, and out foam the 2020s onto the damask tablecloth.
A pact, I’m telling you, between the market and tradition,
and just look at the privileges that came along with it!
The name stayed, but the active agent was left in the past,
dropped from the list of ingredients early in the century.
Now all we speculate about is the proportion of sugars
in the Eastern European versions:
how they adjust this to the local
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