Exhibition Space
San Francisco International Exhibition, Treasure Island 1939-40

I have seen the future 
in a line of deco.

Making sure that nature is slight of shape 
and buildings spear the sky.

Although there are people 
who swore by their pure blood
(as Darwin did not say).

They found their science on display,
I will not measure myself this way.

My coloniale moderne
draws pacific into framing

extinction with exchange,
culture with capital.

Shape me your dynamo, your state seal,
or your Brooklyn Bridge in soap.

I have seen the future 
with its superintendents.

How savages are tamed by self-reliance 
(though Franklin’s biography is fake).

Fly me to the moon palace
far from the eugenicist's complaint:
Some people are born to be a burden on the rest.

Sing me the colour of Sun of Dawn, Yellow Pagoda.
Draw me trees in Ming Jade Green, Hawaiian Emerald.
Show me again the hope in Roosevelt’s smile.