Hassan can watch, aghast, as databanks at NASDAQ
graph hard data and chart a NASDAQ crash—a sharp
fall that alarms staff at a Manhattan bank. Hassan
acts fast, ransacks cashbags at a mad dash, and grabs
what bank drafts a bank branch at Casablanca can
cash: marks, rands and bahts. Hassan asks that an
adman draft a want ad that can hawk what canvas
art Hassan has (a Cranach, a Cassatt and a Chagall).
Hassan can fast-talk a chap at a watchstand and
pawn a small watch that has, as a watchglass, a star
padparadschah (half a grand, a carat). A shah can
pack a bag, flag a cab and scram, catch-as-catch-can.
—Christian Bök, from Eunoia, 2001
Posted by Kriston at September 23, 2008 12:36 AM