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XII. Six Interleaved Poems
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i. lacuna
the long hot summer burns itself away
periods when the mind rests nowhere
the reflective bias off. limits hurt
liberty's just another poor idea
thought and action equally are tedious
all their colour gone. but soon the ripe pod bursts
seed spilled on the pavement and the earth.
no there's no progression only the lurch
from one illuminated moment to
the next; or else into the onward darkness
ii. question
the deity
for whom the waters still themselves
at morning while the white mist lifts
unveils, reveals a once familiar face.
pools of silence turned to ominous whirlpools
suck you down. who shall you be when robbed
of what you are?
iii. kreisleriana
the dark man in the strand complained of heat
amidst the whispering exhausts of cars.
grey suit, white shirt, green tie, impressive physique,
hieratic sandstone countenance: karnak, thebes.
the sound of schumann echoed up the street
kreisleriana. dream paralysis
balsa-log body half submerged, wave
after wave flows over. the meaningless the trite
take on a new significance and shine.
there is a helper waiting here at hand
iv. promisers
listen and you will hear them whisper 'back
back back, through years and empires back'
(into this silence anything might slip
grinning djinn or incubus). 'relax
allow the suction of the past, the future's
vacuum, to gently draw you to itself.
become what you have witnessed: there rest'
they will say 'i promise you, believe
and know.' but when the vision passes, at dawn,
you will be clutching clods of sticky earth
their brilliant emeralds faded
v. icon
movement of the slapping lapping pool
momentum in a circle tamed, contained.
from the chlorined water there extends
one white muscled monument to grace.
this marble melts and moves. the elegant arms
are lifted, hoisting up a memorable physique.
the legs are lifted, it stands upon two feet,
nature's answer to the natural law,
the curve and flow of context, content's bulge
trumpeted beside the subsidies of space
outlined against the glittering rippled surface
byzantine christ set in uneven tesserae
vi. annunciation
visualise the offering: cupped hands
through which the sparkling water runs, sunlight
on the face and body, scent of birdsong,
flowering sound. here apotheosis
is conceived, which in a fruitful moment
comes to birth before the astonished gaze
of a wondering world. water falls falls
in glittering droplets, each a tiny sun,
a living being, a rotating earth
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