SEAMUS CAIN

--------

THE WAR REQUIEM

THE INTROIT

mediumistic it is most dreadful
my ugly wound touches the sand
the ugly wound at the beginning
reveals the presence of carbide
i had spent the night in a chair
sleeping but not sleeping
i had drunk a fiery mixture
beyond all human aid or
unreasonable sexual attention that
accelerated the end as the end
the valvular disease of soldiers
you & i developed a series of boils
our heads were x-rayed as the soldiers
dragged their fine cables to stars
neither the mustard nor the pepper
but the mustard and the pepper and a
turning of the worm signed "yellow tea"
annoying the soldiers the soldiers
referring to marks on their faces
the marks made them sorry sorry
one soldier was rambling in his speech
right to the very end the end when he
threw the contents of a jug of beer
the systematic cruelty in front of
the babylonian servants of god the
war with the long arm of coincidence
my wounds were consistent with bites
the calico body with agonizing sobs or
calico bodies of the sunburned mob the
legless boys engaged the mob's attention
under a cloud under a black(silver) cloud
we perspired freely among
the lotuses of the lotus-pond
in our Mandaean imaginations
our blackedged expressions
what could render my spiritual comfort?
overtasked by my own strength?
had the Mandaean servants of
the lotus sunk to the pavement?
the Arab prisoners offered no resistance
sliding across the valuable paper
the valuable paper of the desert
with commendable wrigglings
this war is thoroughpaced
& the Mandaean towers
are a temporary edifice
duffer or the duffer & duffer duffer
we put tweed on the war
as a sad circumstance when
the shape of face altered my
face that was formidable but
i was looking at a bottle & i
couldn't lay my hands on the bottle
or touch the hind legs of a horse
as a soldier ate a porterhouse steak
in front of me a steak that
spoke to his having seen death
to the best of his recollection

--------

THE BENEDICTUS

shake out the sound of frogs
& shake out the water in a spring
the hydromel of Keats alone the
saturday wax of the hydromel
26 blackbirds in 17 circles when the
black knights will shake out the bonfires
Hmmm, but i remember the plain of Bray
& i see & see again the plain of Bray
crossed out in pencil as the
sisters' wood refused to serve cars
2 white buffalos accompanied my doves
i don't think that was very nice of them
a blackbird sewed the truhite & the gould
when i saw the likeness of a saint in a wall
& the bleed of Moravian apples
the lashes & yells of cyclists
& paper & ink that started smells
shake shake the trumpet
& eye the trumpet or eye
the fish purr in beautiful piety as
the riddle of the telescopes
the clingers to Agnosis
determined by the babies
the agnostic puddings
the agnostic fir-greens
determined by the babies in
the majestic white of Agnosis
or the bald women in Agnosis
as the chopped-up meat took a drop
in the jetty of the river Liffey
shake shake the carriers of the Liffey
or the carriers of semiotext in
the moonshine of an ash-tree
take a chip off the old flint
with bald archaeologists the
avarice & restraint of pralines in
sonic avarice & sonic restraint
shake shake the testicles of flint
& the handwriting of daisies for
the news or tasks of Sinbad as
he punches at the 26 blackbirds
a chorus of oats from Hemania
or a chorus of boasts in Hemania
so now to our duck-and-jenny show
to stop the duck-and-jetty blow
write & read vice averse vice averse

--------

THE SANCTUS

tumble the odor of the apples
& yum-yum a peach cobbler the
death dreams in a swanswong
the elucidatorials of the pea-pods
capitular pentmark on the beach
sanctify, sanctify, tumble &
sanctify with all my gracies
clear in my hyperborea
clear in my superboria
code code for us all
everyword for a self
found heathen by private hopes
the tongue in the old nickety
the milk in the sour pastry
as i am crossed out in ink
but sanctify, sanctify the
beautiful presence of waiting
for there be many asleeps
between thorns unprickly thorns
& dinna forget dinna forget the
terrible ugliness of Auslands
when i am crossed out in crayon
by the pin twin fin-fin underlings
waiting & waiting for cakes
as the huts revolve in the rain
sanctify, sanctify & tumble for
i hope soon to hear close the
turning & turning of milk on the
gap between the gap-world &
the new gap the gap of the
crumble of flint of sanctification
i touch the urn of a soft nose that
fumbles the letters together the letters
for a real foot twister of a letter-book
sanctify, sanctify & bumble the
arabicized bisons but bisons nevertheless
the pelts that are pelt-pelted on my back to
suck suck the brains of a boy of Mandalay
or the slit in the break of a psycho mandolin
i ignore the collapse of the soft nose of
sanctification from the earth though the
kill of the deer sanctifies nevertheless
the rumble or monstrous fire defences
the dogma of flint & the
dogma of effervescence
my toes apart on the flint
my toes are spreading, &
my pectoral murals the skin
or the skin skin an empty
cavern of skin over short shins
the flint off the glaciation for flint to
walk the mud like a neanderthalic ghost
or like a neanderthalic herd-boy in
the round of rounded caves the flint
the hypercatalectic flint &
the microlithic schillia
eons & eons of schillia
the schillia of flint flint &
the microlithic shilling
eons & eons of shillings on the
terricolous isles of Scilly or the
scilla on the isles of Scilly that
hypnotize the terror of a lisp
in time & time in time & time a
time that mocks for my grapes &
the ferret or frame of Fra Diavolo
sanctify, sanctify & tumble
with a terrier on the flint
the gothic flint
the sinister flint
the nidifugous flint the
sciamachies of flint
the spinster flint
the primer of flint
the Sivaistic flint
vatican gush a look alike
primarily, tell me all about
the scilla on the isles of Scilly
the eons & eons of Scilly
tellun tellun the pipette of flint
but sanctify now the flint of peace
& sanctify all hope of peace

--------

THE CANTICLE

with hunx & epheu
or the cap of a kidney
gestures in mutton & chaps
O mourveen avoure & avourie
telephone ache a tea simmering
the Turk moves in a theater
hundred manhood the hunt
& sidle to a shanty the
ankh of the ankylosaur or
the ankle of the ankhorite
steamy in the glue & gravy
pigeons, no concern
of the baronesses
usque ad mortem
the four waders
& culpable happiness
pranqueen pranqueen
mark falling stars a lamphouse
please stop Moore's Melodies
ton & chin daddy alphabet
big beggar for chessmaster
ginargo for mastery over Tammuz
the five marshes & a marchioness
cyropaedia, hytospes
struck out in pencil by
a palace revolution that
defecates on the king
the belle boy of Nabomdo
or the evil Merodach
treckle trickle pharis for
the fake Mary in front of
a pipette of eggs & legs
or the pipette of legs & legs
& the egg magazine
& the 5-egg verse
the egg of the sleeps
as Rev. Jonathan Swift
defecates on the verge
while the boy Jones in
the cage of the lanternhouse
sees jinnies through a telescope
tip tip the Kate tip ad sum
Abraham Lincoln the rainbow my
Tristan sees the rainbow
& the chute of the sawyer to find
the paragraph of the rainbow
Walpurgis-nacht my lads my lads
the magazine-wall & artillery
good red herring in Edinburgh
or the clock or clocktower of Eden
Walpurgis-nacht under ale under
ale & Kennedy's bread
put the fish on the table
the bridge of good herring
& pass the fish to pass the fish
under the O'Flaherty & the fluter
de profundis de profundis
in the hollow of Christmas cake
the suds for me suddenly
the suds for me O'Sullivan
adeste fidelis the rainbow
adeste fidelis & rainbow rainbow
i seen a thin boy sittin' on his hunkers
automobile the faigh-go-baile in crest
wine & vinegar to andesite the O'Toole
under my andraditic O'Toole in the humid
& raw andantino of the Andaman Islands
there's hair on bamboo & stone as par
bid me to live, as clap clap
& go backwards in a taxi
the andabatarian anarchist
that was decent of him but now
i write an Ephemeris of the Irish saints
as the queerest explosion to explosion
the mournival of saints & knaves a thin
young man was welcome only in his bed
with my eyeshield & iron mask
password & bun of bath in nightwork
& where the where is your amnesia the
brine white suds of the Holy Ghost
or the milk white suds of the Madonna
under the land of god the land of god
in luminiferous Iraq
the iridial war my Iraq
the irideous war my Iraq
the whirls & quavers of Iraq
the warbles & trills of Iraq
warp of iridescence of Iraq
the trilineated whirl-worm Iraq
the mother-of-pearl of warbles Iraq
the whippletree of trillado Iraq
to the crippled friars the
ghastly crippled friars
& the sweat of Prester John
with the bestiality in Irish songs
true, very true, very true true
not fit to throw guts to a bear
with the holy Willy & costive Satan
or with the antedeluvian buffaloes
my deary, the lovespots on your hands
entrained, to shake the mounted foot
make walk a holy Willy & the
hobblesides of the hopfrog god
while the thin young man was shaving
the triumph to tell of past beasties in day
the unknown beggar comes to bigtimer
& the Moray eels are on the prowl

--------

WAR

the soldiers are dead & stony in
a deep horror of eyes & of wings
an adze chops up all the vertebrae
the touch of the butcher
is gently received
boys shall listen
& rise up & weep

i cover myself in a yellow mantle
the armies are stretched like
bowstrings or a sanctified
waterfall of disfigurement
the boys enter & wash
themselves in the waterfall
they sweep as shouting & mocking

battle * the detritus at the
bottom of a dank pool
battle * a gateway of brass the
spinach or hunt of pinlights
the boys enter a strongly armed tower
the tower is covered by a sheen
of buttermilk, & mistletoe

oxen move over young weeds
the growl of the sponges of radium
& of old wounds, & sleep
i drink a strange juice
to the octave of war
the limbs of the soldiers are toasted

you & i pursue an old man
surrounded with leaves & dreams
jade of the fireworks of a plumtree
the plumtree clings to burning stones
i inject a narcotic into a soldier
a weathercock flaps in the hot wind
wires on the burning
jade of wide plumtrees
you & i destroy the
cooing of a musical
stallion the smile
on a taoist face
rose-beds of musical destruction

the soldiers will rise, making
clouds with their breath
the soldiers will see
an ivory cormorant
the clay underneath them shall pant
chess-games of meteorites will be
trampled beneath them in death

--------

MEMBRANCE

This is war's winter when the tree
Is broken orange and yellow.
We have spoken to the tree.
The tree does not speak.
We have seen the nothing sun, the
Purple twilight nothing.

I am unsettled by the small
Bright sun, the setting redness
And the point unsetting.
We are quiet. We see wild quick and
Quiet zebra in the blackwhite
Edge of knife. We are golden zodiac.

War, we hate your shrunkenness.
Curse this pleasant place,
War War we bless you.

I am a man of something,
Pushing in an ancient stain,
Brown and ragged, heavy.
In the strength of splintered
Bone and burnished copper,
I gesture outward by water.
I am a man of something,
Willfulness, dignity, I swim.

Unburied war, we are cold in the
Zodiac. We are the pretty silver
Vegetables. We are chiseled in the
Cold copper and tree - broken - that
Will be grey and metallic.
Waken waken, War, we
Chant the chaos in iron ore.

I am the winter zebra blood and hot.
I am carved and curled in marble.
War - distractible - is learning
Alphabet in the waters, public
Verbs that do not eat meat.

I, hidden, am a man of
shrunkenness and metal.
They cover my phallus with mud.
They hide my cowardice with fear.
But the winter red tree
With middle branches
(What is this envelope of
sudden orange and quiet?)
Reaches the folds of starskin and
Extinguishes the big sky of war.

Winter's war when the tree will be something.

--------

BALUSTRADE

Don Juan

la crispation

une nudité

le mimétisme

Don Juan, Don Z ~

figure de la fatalité

une nuit de printemps

aux cérémonies

secousses de mort

Don Juan, Don Z ~

générations d'ombres

danse au clair de lune

le tzigane [tzigane]

la neige tombait

dans une chambre

d'un texte mystérieux

sous la lampe

Don Juan, Don Z ~

merveilleux

les témoins

entre les fesses

des cercles et des étoiles

contre la balustrade de fer

de la géométrie

le fragment

aux ongles

dans le désert

précautions

Don Juan, Don Z ~

l'angoisse l'obligeait

la séance serait truquée

le soir

de la figure de gymnastique

--------

100 AÑOS DE SALVADOR DALÍ
[para Mónica Vallejo]

Muchos pocos hacen un mucho,
la cereza, el cobre, la cereza,
la cereza, cereza, el cobre.

Salir atestando, el búho,
el perejil, el cobre, el
cobre, la cereza, cereza.

Cuando la puerta es baja,
hay que agacharse - la anémona,
melocotones, los melocotones.

Hay un juicio, los melocotones,
cono de pino, ortiga, la noche,
noche, cono de pino, la noche.

Tiempo tras tiempo viene, la
servilleta, la mañana, la mimosa,
mimosa, la servilleta, la mimosa.

Zurrar la pavana, pececillo,
urraca, mármol, mármol y loto,
loto, y loto, urraca y mármol.

Llorar con ambos ojos, lagarto,
limón, mariquita, mandíbula,
mariquita, lagarto, mariquita.

Lo mas encomendado lleva el gato,
hiedra, serpiente, iris, serpiente.

Palabras y plumas el viento las lleva,
petróleo, agua, agua, herradura, agua.

La calentura declina, espina,
roble, casco, casco, halcón,
ganso, espina, roble y casco.

Dijo el escarabajo:
"Gusano de resplandor,
cubre de escarcha, paredes."

No morderse los labios, niebla,
vellón, red, niebla, abeto, red,
abeto, labios, niebla y niebla.

Mondar los huesos, haces
de leña, armiño, olmo,
olmo, alce, olmo, olmo.

Suceda lo que sucediere,
dragón, pan, polvo, pan,
polvo, pan, polvo, pan.

Salir de lagunas y entrar
en mojadas, cenizas, delfín,
cornejo, y cornejo, zarapito!

--------

LA EXHUMACIÓN DE SALVADOR DALÍ
[para Santi Cabezuelo]

¡Avida Dolars! ¡Avida Dolars!

Calzárselas al reves, la almendra,
el ancla, el pájaro, el ancla, ancla,
la almendra, la almendra y pájaro.

Pesarle á uno la cabeza mas que los pies,
la botella, la columna, la burbuja, la vela,
la vela, la burbuja, la columna, la botella.

Dar trascantón ó trascantonada, la margarita,
la esmeralda, la silla, la silla, el abeto, abeto,
la silla, la esmeralda, la margarita, margarita.

Lo que no va en lágrimas, va en suspiros.
Voy de paséo, la antorcha, el jazmín, el ópalo,
el perejil, la granada, el ópalo, la antorcha, el
ópalo, el jazmín, la granada, el ópalo, el ópalo.

Supeditado de los contrarios, el conejo, el
arco iris, el subió, el zafiro, zafiro, el conejo.

Le espetó fuertes razones, el cetro, la guadaña,
la semilla, semilla, el barco, el barco, barco, barco.
O fuerza de la adulación á cuanto te extiendes,
la araña, las estrellas, el gorrión y las plumas.
El onceno no estorbar, el anillo, la torre, la
telaraña, la cornalina, la cornalina, cornalina.

Mátalas callando, la paciencia, el coronella, y el
azafrán, la picea, la picea, el azafrán, el azafrán.
Metió los géneros por alto, el pino, el pino, pino,
el trébol, la medialuna, medialuna, la miel, el pino.

El papel se pasa, las manzanas, la cesta, la fruta,
el cuervo, el cuervo, la cesta, cesta, las manzanas.
Pasó el rio á nado, el barco, la hoz, la perdiz, el
tulipán, el querubín, el tulipán, tulipán, la perdiz.

En la puerta del horno se quema el pan, la lanza,
el serafín, el álamo temblón, la lanza, y el serafín.
Que quiera que no quiera, el cactus, la serpiente,
el águila, áuila, la estrella, y la serpiente, la estrella.

Calzarse á alguno, la cerveza, el toro, la carpa, la
cerveza, el toro, cerveza, la carpa, la carpa, carpa.
Pesa ménos que una vedija de lana, la cereza, y el
sol, el lobo, el bacalao, el sol, el lobo, lobo, bacalao.

Le dió un dolor de costado, el latigo, la lámpara, la
caja, el diablo, la rana, la caja, el latigo, y la lámpara.
Váyase uno por otro, el puerco, el cántaro, la ciruela,
el puerco, el puerco, puerco, y el cántaro, y la ciruela.

Tener cascos de calabaza, el cuervo, el reptil, el reptil,
el rinoceronte, el rinoceronte, y el reptil, y el reptil, el
cuervo, cuervo, el cuervo, y el rinoceronte, y el reptil.
Escupir sangre en bacin de oro, la serpiente, el cráneo,
cráneo, la espina, y la tortuga, y la tortuga, tortuga, la
espina, y la tortuga, la tortuga, la tortuga, y la tortuga.

Facer sin tiesta á alguno, el yunque, el vientre, el globo,
el vientre, el yunque, el globo, el globo, globo, yunque.
Falsear las guardas ó centinelas, el lago, el principal, el
barro, el cuadrado, el lago, el lago, el cuadrado, el lago.

Mátenme cuerdos y no me den vida necios, la paloma,
la tierra, la cabra, la planta, el sarcófago, la cabra, cabra,
el sarcófago, la paloma, la paloma, la tierra, el sarcófago.
Mirarse á los pies, la sandalia, el cilíndro, el oro, y la plata,
la escalera, el oro, oro, la sandalia, la sandalia, y el cilíndro.

Se me pasó por alto, la espiral, el molino, el agua, la niebla,
el molino, la espiral, la espiral, el agua, la niebla, y el molino.
Aun queda el rabo por desollar, la esfinge, el cerdo, las alas,
el buey, las alas, alas, la esfinge, la esfinge, el buey, el cerdo.

Quemarle á alguno la estatua, el león, el ángel, el pecho,
la bolsa, el pecho, el pecho, la bolsa, la bolsa, bolsa, bolsa.
Tocar á la bomba, la pluma, la espada, el hacha, el hacha,
la cimitarra, la espada, la espada, la cimitarra, y la cimitarra.

Tomar la manta, el libro, el candelero, la corona, las joyas,
la pluma, la pluma, la cimitarra, el candelero, y el candelero.
De botón gordo, el jarrón, el alabastro, el crucifijo, el frasco,
la corona, el frasco, el frasco, libro, el alabastro, el alabastro.

Cara de cartón, la tapa, el pez, el pan, la tapa, el pez,
y el pez, pez, el pan, el pez, el pan, el pez, el pez, pez.

Calentársele á uno la boca, el cuervo, el reptil, el reptil,
el rinoceronte, el rinoceronte, y el reptil, y el reptil, el
cuervo, cuervo, el cuervo, y el rinoceronte, y el reptil.
Escupir sangre en bacin de oro, la serpiente, el cráneo,
cráneo, la espina, y la tortuga, y la tortuga, tortuga, la
espina, y la tortuga, la tortuga, la tortuga, y la tortuga.

El rio se pierde, la cerveza, el toro, y la carpa, la
cerveza, el toro, cerveza, la carpa, la carpa, carpa.
Pesa ménos que una vedija de lana, la cereza, y el
sol, el lobo, el bacalao, el sol, el lobo, lobo, bacalao.

¡Bofetón amagado, nunca bien dado! ¡El papel!
El papel se pasa, las manzanas, la cesta, la fruta,
el cuervo, el cuervo, la cesta, cesta, las manzanas.
Pasó el rio á nado, el barco, la hoz, la perdiz, el
tulipán, el querubín, el tulipán, tulipán, la perdiz.

¡Y a buen viento! ¡A buen viento va la parva!
Mátalas callando, la paciencia, el coronella, y el
azafrán, la picea, la picea, el azafrán, el azafrán.
Metió los géneros por alto, el pino, el pino, pino,
el trébol, la medialuna, medialuna, la miel, el pino.

Aunque se suba al cielo ó á las nubes, nubes.
Voy de paséo, la antorcha, el jazmín, el ópalo,
el perejil, la granada, el ópalo, la antorcha, el
ópalo, el jazmín, la granada, el ópalo, el ópalo.

El perezoso siempre siempre está menesteroso,
O fuerza de la adulación á cuanto te extiendes,
la araña, las estrellas, el gorrión y las plumas.
El onceno no estorbar, el anillo, la torre, la
telaraña, la cornalina, la cornalina, cornalina.

¡Avida Dolars! ¡Avida Dolars!

--------

QUESTIONING

Does a basket know the gourd where
the lemon dwarf explodes, and
the golden rattlesnakes glow in the
dark harvest wart, where a gentle
photograph blows from the blue
melody, where the bell's jade stands
quiet and coming-of-age towers up?
Does history know a hobo's nutrient?
Traintracks are where, oh, airwaves
are where, hunters would like to
go with a circle's vomit,
oh my pygmy gateway!

Does a sorceress know the source?
Its quilt rests on a poison, the edge
gleams, the rags glitter (mold chitters) and
marble wands and gardens stand, a horsefly
looks at smoke images. "Poor lust! what
has uranium done to blood?" she said.
Does a skin know warm bushes, honeycombs,
staghorns, and star vines?
Wavechange is where, oh,
watermarking is where
the grass would like to
go with fishnets, oh my dome dream!

Does birdsound know
the mountain cerebellum
and daydreams' cloudy
weeds? The trail seeks
raindrop's hole there in
the fiber's niche; the
ancient shifting of water dwells in
bridges and peaks; the
pattern's icicle foliage falls
sheer and the mushroom over it.
Does a gem know the sword's doorway?
Rockpile is there, oh, glacial-scar is
where our moving island leads, oh,
fibers, humming, harbor, let watermarks go!

--------

TOMORROW

a slithery fish drinks from me
avalanches drink from the fish
this fish under a golden cyclone of light

i fashion a stronghold out of hay ricks as
the barbarians move among the fountains
pigeons will settle on armchairs
to watch the barbarians fidget
i summon an ironer of the pigeons

the woods' old night
drowns a hard lighthouse
like shadows on the tinted colors
of the Mountains of Mourne
those incredible reaches
ever hand in hand
antiquaries build a nourishing crust
as they sit on a pale strand
the chattering intruder explodes
& closes like an obscure star

birches collided with sexual freedom
above each hooked knee
calibrations & plummets of birds & fish
languished with a dreamy gaze

i shake, like a frighted bird
clear your throttles for a whip
of the white gown of a poltroon
lawns of clover will become
the inflammation of tomorrow

i bridled a horse in water
the squalor of a grapefruit
i knew the drama was over
i grabbed at a plate of citrus fruit
planetary lime, stimulus of lime
i heard machines as my eyes grew dim
candlesticks were changed into machines
with all the ancient sorrow of a
boat of pencils, thirsty pencils

i sigh & moan, like a colored findrinny
dreams ride out again in
the whine of a cuckoo
i monitor my heartache & temperature as
the findrinny examines wounds on a cypress
cycles of reverberating sound
move over a dull purple sea

--------

PERISCOPES

i recollect the odors of
the sound in the stars as
an oarsman memorizes grease
ah! when will you turn to the world
of lightnings, in oaken murkiness
the murkiness of oaken lightnings
i walked by a woods of distant odors
a kerchief of sturgeons
rustled behind thorn-bushes
old murmurous droppings
old murmurs of sturgeons

my mistress walls up my odors in sound
no weasels live there in the bushes
artery goes to the sling of tittle
over the reverie of all things
my mistress is unhappy with porridge
no weasels live there on the heights
my mistress puts bricks around a statue
she breaks a flask by the
plains of the sea's edge
wails of the monocles of stars
forgetful of the green of grasses
as though the double of landward reverie
as though the double of landward sound

put out the periscopes of the "3"!
throw soft sour berries over the
tops of the periscopes as a
windowsill purges the millions of "3"
yes! if only you had wept
for the explosion of a shoe
dandruff of the words on a starling
the starling brushes pebbles
against a rough haymouse for
smells of the wiliness of a mob

& when will you turn to the
enamel of atheists or potash
the atheists look from the sheen
of earth at a distant sheen
squint of the rattles of a nut-cracker
like a small withered leaf in the
broken wheeze of periscopes

starlings shall mingle no more to empty
ribbons & berries over the haymouse
brakes on the irrigation of ribbons
that destroy the farthest periscopes
where only the imperialists would dare
to speak of the masochism of a turkey-hen
less soft than my breath

--------

THE EXHUMATION OF MOZART

(strophe)

and sycamores shall
have no tablet
the dead tackle naked tangles
shall be tar
with the swan in
the swig and
the west tortoise
when the whistles are
picked tincture (vaccine tinge)
and the uranium
urine gone
valves shall have
sweetbread at towels
and wind-vanes
though vermin vertex
go vinegar vertebra
shall be vellum
though tendons sink through
the varnish vaseline
shall rise again
though hawk's talon be
lost a test-tube
tether shall not
and velvet venom shall
have no velvet venison

and towers shall
have no uproar
under the taunt of
the swimmer and swirl
vowel vomit lying voltage
shall not utensils windily
twist on tanners
and talkers when
symmetry gives way
strapped to a texture yet
turnips shall not break

(antistrophe)

tracings in their traction
shall snap in thicket
and the thurible thyme
run titlarks through
split all tongs
up tremor tress
shan't trumpet
and thatchers shall
have no trout

and tide-mark shall
have no thistles
no more may thaw cry
at the toadstools
or vessels break tassels
and tatters on the
turf-bank turkey-hen
where blew a
vegetation vein may
a thud no more
lift a syringe to
the taint of the
three-ply wool
though timbrel tin be
walnut waltz vibration
and virus as vitriol
and waterfall waterfall
the warble rabbit-warren
wart hammer through toothache
break in the
tattler till the
verdure breaks down
and velvet wasp shall have
no velvet water-cress
and velvet venom shall
have no velvet venison

--------

SPONGES

Firearm raises a leech and a vixen
Of sensuality lost in sponges of beloved meteorite
Slats cannot hear the thin thicket

Thicket memorizes the mire while
Perspiration joined in the
Filings of palm-oil as
The grouse (final drawing-room)
Wagons all scissors away and
Wakens cabbage and adolescent skew

Summer does not listen to vegetables and catgut
The badger breath of scarlet everything

Become a density a wallop
Pinecone and wireworm oxide to tears as
Thighs float on a valved soap-bubble

Emolument burns off the
Valves of a gander as
Plasterers breathe in all
Herbage under the lifeboats

The plover lifts a mitten and a trident
While slate shades itself in tumbles of buttermilk
Stutterer is lost in the mitten of buttermilk
Buttermilk cannot hear the deep
Vexation of the beet

Phosphate memorizes all mirth the
Mirth of shaving-brush joined
In the tides of the eldertree
The cartridge of final speck
Nets swine and an adolescent flageolet

The village fails to billow as a
Dictionary models the end of visibility

An archer branches himself past the
Velvet, sponges, and rivulets on a wren
Crickets thigh away the syllabus of radium
The wetness of radium bones a disk and a calipers

--------

EXECUTIONER

Chisels emerge from a dilemma
Shovel and shovel O cog of a mechanism
The whole width tumbles down helter-skelter
In a delightful tassel (upsidedown)

In the rabbit-warren the pandemonium
Made by several sour musicians
Verses dunked in warm milk
Verses dunked in powders of charcoal
In the black rabbit-warren
With harsh-legged saltwater
Pushing, pushing with each scrap

O the yellow swig O the painful push
O the thrust is loaded to boney space
By the void of starwater liquor
By deep parallels of saltwater chisel
Which halters in through a drummer
Smashing the crystals of an executioner

Still a juggler is hypnotized inside
Inebriating tension the stars of malt
The whole of a soft shrew waits to be
Drawn from the very threads of a piece of chalk

And the circle of asbestos resounds again
In the silver nursery between
Sips and children each timber
That the bleeding mat (matted rivalry)
Imposes on the lucid orient

What chalice or what awl
Contains the blackbird the black ore listens for
O black ore the frozen blackbird of chalice
O chalice the frozen awl of the blackbird and
Crows, O wounds and tracings

--------

POLITICAL CONFUSION

[for Jeff Harrison]

star river the
star star river

basses of fish
& violas of fish
the baseness of
the fishermen

sprog, the wheel
& sprog the stag

obsidian bobbles

dog punching

sawdust fog, muscles, dolor
eupeptic trees, horologue

clack my dish the
solan goose the goose

or lacebark oak the
thrusher cuckoo

cachetic opera in
the lift of fish fish

the exit wound
my exit wound

cotquean mound

a clutch of eggs
outpointed egret

or, the apple in my mouth

adobe hooch

i am fretting i am fretting the
unfished sentences in Gaeilge

i want to cook a sausage

in Sanskrit sex
wetting all the floor

my mouth open like a codfish
haemostatique, yes haemostatique

1001 Arabian dawns, not
1001 Iraqian dawns, with
several candles on my knees

1001 words out of my mouth
& 3-rock mountains

I hate Mr. Nero : yes, Nero at a game of billiards

--------

DANTE & THE BIG PIG

[for Antonio Sassu]

wireless, touch a shore
in the negativity of iron ore

write, write as if the future exists

the waxfruit wax fruit
but a microscopic stain

& a frost of trees for the

fishnet fish net at night

wires touch the earth
yes wires touch the earth
the pejorative rainbow
or the bag of rainbow

the armamentarium
or the sinologue

Hmmmmmmmmmm, yes, but
the onrushing mass of verbiage
is proving to be too much

the fear of fur & fin spume
on cambered wings of cathedral

or the indelicate reference
to me as a sea creature
what a predicament
on a rainless plateau

the euphoric stonecut letters
& the cheap cheap paper

every window will be smashed
by bits & pieces of purple chalk

once again the pattern is one
of a movement from seeming
organization to disintegration

beat me, beat me
to a frazzle the long
worm that has no turning

but is it a worm of the opera?

feel your own pulse as the
rice growing off the stalks or
the corn falling off the stalks

i eat the asparagus as a
bulldog revolves beyond
the destroying of dogs

i am beyond soap & water

a football in the ruins of my hands

a fictional echo chamber with
no overtly logical transitions
between the silvery voices

the bulldog revolves in tweed

as a knock comes to my door

i touch my slightly reddish nose

for the better part of an hour, as
sure as eggs are what they are

i move in a sea of thought the dim
impersonal narrative of an explorer

i had drunk something out of a bottle
to save myself anxiety, in lyrical earnest

the question & answer format, as convoluted
& seemingly distanced as it can be at times

never give a book to a Frenchman
for it will be pouring with rain
yes it will be pouring with pain

a pig has experienced pain

the pig comes in at 10 keel

the pig is a keen dancer but there
is an indelicacy to the situation

it's a strange world, of rash rash acts

a brick moves through plateglass
on the fish isle fish isle fish isle

the fucking sea stallion
for the black black ochre
of the cannibals of London

the slaughter of wrinkle

not what you would expect Dante to write

what an ugly grin

larking with a boy

& his theft of a leg of pork

i am sipping some stout
my face reduced to a pulp

i am sipping the pig in bed with my cud

i drink some milk from a bottle

as people find me chewing an apple

it should be stated that these
words demonstrate a sundering,
rather than a coming together

if nothing else, there is no fusion and form

there has always been a whatness
in the work of a pig or a poet