Birds
the Delphiad, book VI
KRISA: o were a sweet(good)show
XENOS: but we(were)swiftly shaking(brandishing,
wielding)the(lots)beetles(that destroy bee-hives)
into the(shameless)dog-skin(cap)
KRISA: lips touching so lightly
XENOS: (he would kiss)
(you
would be kissed)
(youre kissed)
tipped-with-bronze;
κλήρους δ᾽ ἐν κυνέῃ χαλκήρεϊ πάλλομεν ὦκα:
KRISA: its almost not even a kiss at all
AUTOS: thence(whence)(she went)
(she came)(wrist-)ravenously(ones)
(you)(o raging-sacrificing)stepped-
through-to the ridge of sweetwood
(trees)(dupa)(pine)(raging-sacrificing)
(agarwood)(o raging)(o sacrificing)
ἔνθεν καρπαλίμως προσέβης πρὸς δειράδα θύων
KRISA: yet it carries something so vast
XENOS: but the lot(bee-beetle)sprang out
of(a)great-hearted Eurolochos(well-
hidden-ambush-lying-
in-wait)
ἐκ δ᾽ ἔθορε κλῆρος μεγαλήτορος Εὐρυλόχοιο.
KRISA: the rising sun the next morning
AUTOS: but(you)approached-as-suppliant
(approach, you)(to stroll-about, present-to,
attain-to, become, befit, pertain-to)Krisa
(separate-distinct-discerning-judgment-turning-
point-trial-crisis)
under the snowy-white Parnassos(mountain-
woodland-heights-branching-growth-minding-
alone-remote),
ἵκεο δ᾽ ἐς Κρίσην ὑπὸ Παρνησὸν νιφόεντα,
KRISA: it wont be the same
AUTOS: having-been-turned
(four-fold)(tetrammenon)
toward the projecting-spur(limb-shoulder-
grove)of Zephuros
(the w e s t - w i n d ) ,
κνημὸν πρὸς Ζέφυρον τετραμμένον,
KRISA: but it will be almost the same
but it will witness what comes next
XENOS: but baaaa(sheep sound)(he)stepped
to go(to come),
and at the same time as(that)at least,
(we would set it, sink it into the sea, plunge it in,
enter the body, put it on like armor, enter, make
our way into, come over and upon)two(a dyad-
dyading)and(indeed)twenty weeping
(o weeping)companions;
‘ βῆ δ᾽ ἰέναι, ἅμα τῷ γε δύω καὶ εἴκοσ᾽ ἑταῖροι
κλαίοντες:
KRISA: the timeline rocked out of its course
AUTOS: nevertheless from-above
(a)rock(ledge)(shelf)(peak)(o petra)hangs-over,
αὐτὰρ ὕπερθεν
πέτρη ἐπικρέμαται,
XENOS: but over-against-them, we(o sand,
whom)they(we)left behind, we(would be)
groaning-wailing-weeping
KRISA: it wont matter
XENOS: (squeezing-out
the juice)
KRISA: what comes next
XENOS: thereafter
κατὰ δ᾽ ἄμμε λίπον γοόωντας ὄπισθεν.
KRISA: the world just shifted
AUTOS: but(a
)hollow(wood-comb)
(o holl-
ow)has run-
-ged)(the)comb-(stand)
in-under(rug-
jagged(o
hollow
)
κοίλη δ᾽ ὑποδέδρομε
βῆσσα,
τρηχεῖ᾽
KRISA: for the better
XENOS: but they(we)found
(they-we discover, devise, invent)
so lightly, (she would cough)into
the wooded comb(a drinking cup)
dyad-having-been-built-made-worked,
KRISA: o mistress(dyad)lady
XENOS: the houses of Kirke
(circling-
falcon to-by-for)smooth-polished
stones, into(the)seen-around
space( chora )place.
εὗρον δ᾽ ἐν βήσσῃσι τετυγμένα δώματα Κίρκης
ξεστοῖσιν λάεσσι, περισκέπτῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ:
KRISA: modest
AUTOS: there,
(o)lord Phoibos(radiant-pure-shining)Apollo
ordained(concluded-by-conjecture, estimated,
fortold, predicted,
ἔνθα ἄναξ τεκμήρατο Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων
KRISA: a red-tawny sign;
it will show
AUTOS: (a)lovely(charming)temple-dwelling
to be(being)made
(dyad-lifted-up-and-set-upon)
and(he)said(we speak — o-word-song —
the muthos)story-word;
νηὸν ποιήσασθαι ἐπήρατον εἶπέ τε μῦθον:
APOLLO: thither-hither(surely-binding-needful)we-would
be-minded(exercising-thought-understanding-intelligence-
feeling-sense-sensibility)to make-ready(work)(build
a)roundly-beautiful temple-dwelling
to be(to-by-for)human beings(an)oracle(chresterion),
who(for-by-to)me always
hither-thither will lead-bring-carry(by leadings, bringings,
carryings)perfect(full-complete)hekatombs
(hundred-oxen-offerings-from-afar)
(to-for-by tombs),
and also as many(as)hold(and have)(by having
and holding)the fat(plump)Peloponnesos,
and as many as(hold)Europe,
(and as many as hold North and South Americas,
and as many as hold Asia,
and as many as hold Africa,
and not-to-be-forgotten Australia,
nor the endmost-reaches of Antarctica),
and(the plethora of)sea-surrounded islands,
(they will)consult(inquire)(use it)(seek it)(need-lack and make-
use of it)(experience)(suffer)(study)(treat, entreat, make-
deals with it);
ἐνθάδε δὴ φρονέω τεῦξαι περικαλλέα νηὸν
ἔμμεναι ἀνθρώποις χρηστήριον, οἵτε μοι αἰεὶ
ἐνθάδ᾽ ἀγινήσουσι τεληέσσας ἑκατόμβας,
ἠμὲν ὅσοι Πελοπόννησον πίειραν ἔχουσιν,
ἠδ᾽ ὅσοι Εὐρώπην τε καὶ ἀμφιρύτας κατὰ νήσους,
χρησόμενοι:
KRISA: she was alone
XENOS: but around her were mountain-wolves
and mountain-lions,
that she(herself had)enchanted,
when(she)gave(them)evil(bad-ugly)
pharmakon-drug-potions;
nor did they start-off
in a rush to attack the men,
ἀμφὶ δέ μιν λύκοι ἦσαν ὀρέστεροι ἠδὲ λέοντες,
τοὺς αὐτὴ κατέθελξεν, ἐπεὶ κακὰ φάρμακ᾽ ἔδωκεν.
οὐδ᾽ οἵ γ᾽ ὡρμήθησαν ἐπ᾽ ἀνδράσιν,
APOLLO: (but)and(to)by(for)
which(wholes)we(we)being(o possession-whole)
proclaiming oracles
KRISA: falling-upon-assailing-attack
APOLLO: would pronounce(deliver-enact)oracles(judgment,
law and right)(of)unerring-purpose
KRISA: the creative
APOLLO: absolute-infallible-will(counsel-
deliberation-advice)
in(a)fat(plump)temple-dwelling
τοῖσιν δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐγὼ νημερτέα βουλὴν
πᾶσι θεμιστεύοιμι χρέων ἐνὶ πίονι νηῷ.
KRISA: sound
AUTOS: so-speaking,
Phoibos(shining-radiant-pure)Apollo
arranged(managed, distributed, set-forth, disposed)
the(wide - spacious)foundations
KRISA: body
AUTOS: (the root
or bed of the eye)(the base of the throat)
KRISA: geometry
AUTOS: broad and very(dyad-secretly)tall,
(o-all)unbroken(continuous);
ὣς εἰπὼν διέθηκε θεμείλια Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων
εὐρέα καὶ μάλα μακρὰ διηνεκές:
KRISA: being held
HOMER: but in-turn the swineherd,
leader of men,
spoke-through to him;
τὸν δ᾽ αὖτε προσέειπε συβώτης, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν:
SWINEHERD: and exceedingly that-she(at least)remains
(awaits, in an indicated posture, the coming, approach
of — )(dyad-strength)(by strength)
(her)thumos enduring(evil, patiently, daring
to take-upon-itself)in your big-hall-sanctuary-shrine;
καὶ λίην κείνη γε μένει τετληότι θυμῷ
σοῖσιν ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν:
KRISA: but it had gotten late
AUTOS: nevertheless, upon them(selves)
KRISA: she starts creating
AUTOS: Trophonios(slaughter-nourishment-murder-voice)
and(of)Agamede(exceedingly-nothing-lest-nobody)
put(the)threshold(road)of stone, (who were the)children
(of)Erginos(work-control-birth-imperative-mind),
o beloveds(for-to-by)immortal(by gazings)gods;
αὐτὰρ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς
( λάινον οὐδὸν ) ἔθηκε Τροφώνιος ἠδ᾽ Ἀγαμήδης,
υἱέες Ἐργίνου, φίλοι ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν:
KRISA: ideas spark
and we must have worked til dawn
XENOS: but still
KRISA: its easy to fix
XENOS: there-and-then(to)by(for)you at least
KRISA: (and sparkle)
(and we know which)
XENOS: (he would pee)
(other-he would watch)
ἀλλ᾽ ἄρα τοί γε
οὐρῇσιν
KRISA: excitable(joy found)
XENOS: (to-by-for)the long tails,
they got-up and came,
wagging-friendly-all-around
οὐρῇσιν μακρῇσι περισσαίνοντες ἀνέσταν.
KRISA: alogon
AUTOS: but around the temple-dwelling, the(ineffable-
unspeakable-unutterable-portentous-terrible)
races(tribes-classes-nations)(of)human beings
KRISA: studious, in tiny moments
AUTOS: dwelled(inhabited, settled,
flowing and being filled to overflowing,
to-by-for)smoothed(wrought-polished-
hewn-shaven)stones
KRISA: its( shared )shocking-hot-pink
AUTOS: to be famous-in-song
XENOS: o famous-in-song
AUTOS: always
ἀμφὶ δὲ νηὸν ἔνασσαν ἀθέσφατα φῦλ᾽ ἀνθρώπων
( ξεστοῖσιν λάεσσιν ), ἀοίδιμον ἔμμεναι αἰεί.
from hymn to Apollo
Od. 10.206-215; 16.34-41
fog of nine parts over twelve days (2/3 and 7 or 8/12 = 2/3)
but they(goddesses, wobbly)send Iris(rainbow)forward well-built from the island(this
island)to(will)(lead)(carry)fetch(bring)(to-will-break and shiver
the waves)(to find yalls secret notes)(seized be?)
Eileithuia(mogis-postokos),
(they)(holding under)(as of hands to receive)(or a cup)(or lending ears)(supplying,
affording, furnishing)(upholding, supporting)(sustaining)(maintaining)(taking
upon themselves)(undertaking)(professing)a great chain(necklace)
(wreath)(anchorage)
(shelter),
by golden(gold mines)threads of flax having(asking)(speaking)(fastening
together), nine cubits broad;
as broad as Priams yoke, which he prepares to go beg for his son Hektors
body from Achilles; and his wife, Hekabe, she carries kind, sweet wine,
advises him to pray and look
for signs of birds;
and he agrees
to ask the god for mercy.
αἳ δ᾽ Ἶριν προὔπεμψαν ἐυκτιμένης ἀπὸ νήσου,
ἀξέμεν Εἰλείθυιαν, ὑποσχόμεναι μέγαν ὅρμον,
χρυσείοισι λίνοισιν ἐερμένον, ἐννεάπηχυν:
but absent(aloof)(apart)(they were commanding)(we are commanding)(to beauty-
summon)(call)Hera of the white arms,
truly(they are flowing)(flow, you)(they are swimming)(swim, you)(they are spin-
ning)(spin, you)(they are heaping- and piling-up the thread)(you all
would be)thereupon(she approaches)(has)(had been sat upon)(had sent)
(has sent)(you all would send)(she had been put-on)(she has
been put-on)by the word-songs, she will-to-be-read
like a book, she would twist-and-turn-
back(going of goings)(coming
of comings)(being
of beings).
νόσφιν δ᾽ ἤνωγον καλέειν λευκωλένου Ἥρης,
νή μιν ἔπειτ᾽ ἐπέεσσιν ἀποστρέψειεν ἰοῦσαν.
nevertheless(since)(you are)(approaching)(the dyad-word-song)Iris, swift-footed-
as-the-wind, hears this at least,
(baaa)(sheep-sound)(!!)she walks, then(i will snarl)(easy, rhubarbed)(i
will sprinkle)she runs(to shine)
(to gaze),
but quickly(swiftly)(fleet)she(o Pan)(o all)accomplish all(o all)(o Pan)
the(rainbows)middle. (did she? she tries, a problem is, if she
starts reading Homer, she doesnt stop, its the best wine
however she needs to go to imigrasi
tomorrow morning
baaa)
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ τό γ᾽ ἄκουσε ποδήνεμος ὠκέα Ἶρις,
βῆ ῥα θέειν, ταχέως δὲ διήνυσε πᾶν τὸ μεσηγύ.
nevertheless(since)(you are)(approaching)(the dyad-word-song), then she
(running)(shining)(gleaming)reaches the seat of gods(and goddesses)
(of seeing ones)(of looking-at)(of aspects)(they were gazing)
(we were gazing)(o gazing one)(upon)
high and steep(sheer)(utter)Olympos,
αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥ᾽ ἵκανε θεῶν ἕδος, αἰπὺν Ὄλυμπον,
at once, then(they were sowing seeds)(o bow-drill)(o shrine)(o carpenters auger)
(by bane and ruin)(anxiety, impatience)(indentations from teeth)(on the inside
of my cheek, she will snarl)(she will snarl, I’m still the same old me)(you
will be snarled)(but you would pray)(and see)(now)(you pray)
(she raises up)(we raise up)(be raised-up, you)
(o prayers)(by prayer)(to flowers)(o lords-
and-ladies)(o jacks-in-the-pulpit)
(o ylang-ylang),
out the door of the great hall, beauty-summoning-out-forth-Eileithuia(she
that comes in need)(we were)winged-word-songs(lines and verses)(o
winged-poetries)she is voicing-through,
o all, very(o yellow)(distemper of asses)(white-tailed)(apple)(arm-
pits)like we were enjoining(cheering on!)the Olympic houses,
(o all)the having-and-holding(feminine).
αὐτίκ᾽ ἄρ᾽ Εἰλείθυιαν ἀπὲκ μεγάροιο θύραζε
ἐκπροκαλεσσαμένη ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα,
πάντα μάλ᾽, ὡς ἐπέτελλον Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχουσαι.
but by it, then and there, she is persuading the thumos(heart-spirit-courage)in
their beloved breasts;
but(going)they go on foot, their steps resembling timorous(trembling)(shy)
rock-pigeons. (why would goddesses
go like that?)
τῇ δ᾽ ἄρα θυμὸν ἔπειθεν ἐνὶ στήθεσσι φίλοισι:
βὰν δὲ ποσὶ τρήρωσι πελειάσιν ἴθμαθ᾽ ὁμοῖαι.
when Eileithuia mogos-postokos(of toils and travails of birth)sets foot upon Delos(o
dyad-divine)(it was binding)(bind, you)(need, you)(it was needful)then
and there, childbirth seizes hold of her.
and there and then, she is scared and shaking; she is spinning
and swimming, imagining again and again
all the whats it means;
but she(in thought-purpose-spirit-courage-power-force-violence)desires
to give(be given)birth.
εὖτ᾽ ἐπὶ Δήλου ἔβαινε μογοστόκος Εἰλείθυια,
δὴ τότε τὴν τόκος εἷλε, μενοίνησεν δὲ τεκέσθαι.
but still she doesnt understand, struggles to comprehend, spinning
and swimming, mind inside-out and upside-down, losing
stability;
but around the palm tree(phoenix)(purple or crimson)(she)throws(throw, you)
(cast)(hurl, let fall, strike, touch)(her and your)two arms(double-
horns of the lyre)(o dyad-bow-joining)(o dyad
of the lyre)(o double-rainbow).
with-and-without the news(it helps)shes tempesting
or going numb;
but the knees she plants(will plant)firmly on the soft(tender)
(gentle)(mild)meadow(yielding)grassy place
(of flowers)(blooming)
(yoni);
she keeps collapsing into tears;
but the earth(o earth)(by earth)smiles beneath her.
ἀμφὶ δὲ φοίνικι βάλε πήχεε, γοῦνα δ᾽ ἔρεισε
λειμῶνι μαλακῷ: μείδησε δὲ γαῖ᾽ ὑπένερθεν:
and still, she isnt you-know-who;
but out(which)leaps(springs)(rushes)(darts)(attacks)(do it)into the light of day;
ἐκ δ᾽ ἔθορε πρὸ φόωσδε:
and she feels dizzy, nauseous, a broken rubber-band, and two beloved(black)hens
die overnight; Grace, staunch and protective mother, and Sweetie, most willful
and brave, and both too clever for their own good, succumb to wounds sustained
when snuck-out of their separate pen, being-set-upon and overwhelmed
by roosters; and she doesnt know why, she cant stop tears
about the event, their spirits being o, so dear,
and gone, and who in the hungering
world, to grieve the loss
of two like them;
and three(four)days ago, when it first said chresterion, then and there(deep)blue(ultra-
marine)Javan kingfisher, Halcyon cyanoventris, lands on a jepun tree;
she writes it then she crosses it out; cause its not like shes the best
at parsing verbs or nouns in ancient greek; and how
dare she believe the unbelievable; and how
hardly she feels its not her right;
and yesterday as she eats lunch, in treetops over-looking Campuhan pura-river-
ravine, red rice, tempe, arugula, miso-sesame, but hard to swallow for lack
of appetite, a green imperial pigeon, pergam hijau, flip-flaps onto a branch
nearby (where she lives are not a lot of windows, as living-space
is mostly outside), and if she sees it, and believes, she feels
not brave, but being-swallowed
in a world of signs;
but the goddesses(you run)(you shine)(you gaze)(she would gaze)(you would be put
in place)(by looking at)(by contemplation)(by the sight)shouted and cried
in EXULTED ULULATIONS —
aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaieeeeeeeeeiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiiiiiiiii
all of them(o all)(o-whole-feminine)together.
θεαὶ δ᾽ ὀλόλυξαν ἅπασαι.
from hymn 3 to Apollo
we of the leaf (hemeteroi helikiotai)
we being irreducible (say you)(they say)(O saying one)(i say)(the saying)
that itself (it let)(let it) would be a leaf
but some song (she) sung upon the pharmakon (lets it)(it lets) be me
if someone would sing (she) along (you) and at the same time (me) (inquire)(use)(consult)(entreat)(experience) (being slightly wounded) by we
all in all in all we will make a (healthy) living tree (and overgrowingly) would make the pharmakon
but without (send it up)(let it grow wild)(accomplish it) of the song
no help would be (neither to nor from) of the leaf
καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπον
ὅτι αὐτὸ μὲν εἴη
φύλλον τι
ἐπῳδὴ δέ τις
ἐπὶ τῷ φαρμάκῳ
εἴη
ἣν εἰ μέν τις ἐπᾴδοι
ἅμα καὶ
χρῷτο αὐτῷ
παντάπασιν
ὑγιᾶ ποιοῖ
τὸ φάρμακον
ἄνευ δὲ
τῆς ἐπῳδῆς
οὐδὲν ὄφελος εἴη
τοῦ φύλλου
155ε
the witness
and true love drew a blinding triangle.
the first burn was hollow parallels
desiring scent. when nothing wood was new.
dustbody takes no refuge from a wave.
our battle comes in tangled limbs of loss.
pink button of a clove, warm feet of sandalwood.
the trust we nuzzle into his jugular.
heartsick, i beat myself for thirty years.
the last bird landing on his sea of troubles.
my stranded sail gets nailed at drowning depth,
lust-jumbled junk under a yellow sun.
i touch my hope to his bronze-burnished skin.
i am the phantom i have always been.
and true love draws a binding triangle.
//
do you come beside
(i am) he says
the battle
//
i come beside (her)
// 153β
news of orchids
Phaedrus:
isn’t it overgrowingly (huper-phuos)
(in) other things
and also by the names (honomasin)
joined (together) (eresthai)
οὐχ ὑπερφυῶς
τά τε ἄλλα
καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν εἰρῆσθαι
//
yesterday, in the kitchen, our friend whos out
from prison, was sharing gossip about a junior
being caught and being sent to aranjep
over kampung coffee and orchid media.
and no, they never tell me how it works.
the violet news arrives always from inside
the shackled parallel, the humbled inflorescence.
recirculating sources its own mystery.
war-salvaged rumors from the streets are white
like mouses ears that dream into my peers.
we build them nests from all our mixed-up hair.
the silver blacks the blonde. the ashen thatch.
the trees trail overgrowingly through tails
and tubers until, tangled up, the bearded roots.
to found us here. among inmates and outlaws
and songs, as clove tobacco blanketed our evening.
did you know, they blow the breath of dust
until a fungus makes the faerie home?
a thinking blink is how they move from there
to here, a mayfly mask, the wake to name a wink.
the jungle knows no law, leastly, my wooden sanity.
and when reports an owling bloom, my nervous cell —
i dont believe in walls, i saw you on the battlefield, and
i dont believe youre dead, how could you trust me.
so we have come to be present, by the previous
of evening, out of Potidaea, from the army.
and as having arrived, through time, gladly
i go. and two-thirds of the words are backwards slang.
//
Socrates:
we have come to be present (hekomen)
by the previous of evening
out of Potidaea from the army-ground (stratopedon)
and as having arrived through time
gladly
i go
upon the together-dwelling (sunethes)
rubbed-throughs (diatribas)
ἥκομεν τῇ προτεραίᾳ ἑσπέρας ἐκ Ποτειδαίας ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατοπέδου
οἷον δὲ διὰ χρόνου ἀφιγμένος
ἁσμένως
ᾖα
ἐπὶ τὰς συνήθεις διατριβάς
//
🌒
fast flight
in the smudged aftermath of a hijacked plane
a bird sits in wonder
at the swift
heart
after so fast years
her beat so hard believing in
so locked in by the loaded spring
like a poem punched out through the windowpane
//
the inward prospect of a delta
once upon the oceans day an open secret rode forth
enrobed in sheer sunsets and sunrises to say
it is always and regardless of the weather okay
to not be okay on a winged word
she said in my opinion like roses aflame
poetry is never okay
poetry is the doing deed
poetry is a metaphor for the mishap
and it might have worked but that beachgoers assumed
she plied postcards for the impossible
well she spoke quietly to her own heart
ive seen worse ways to circumnavigate this black earth
//
🌔
//
Halcyon cyanoventris
seems nesting nearby
very loud
and yet so blue
omg the genealogy of OK
cries out
via improbable speech
babel bobber bauble bubble
//
inhuman allusion (where)
in shredded shadow hums her corners beastly nerve
end-hounding at the anklets of my wandering
by prowling tigers milk and heat evisceral
cuts lip to tongue amnesiacs re-hysteried word
stalks fear in what like a magician i have bound
blush turns like a trick pony shes ground me into
and if there was a choice that voice has been erased
thigh-hollows skittering rush from goose-flesh alter-flight
laughterless laugh to pique the predatory mask
high valleys ridges brimming overrun of rage
down slouching bowels round rapt plum of panic like
the sparrow silent as a fork in my ribcage
and somewhere in this feckled wilderness her heart
is pounding proud and naked by the rivers dark
on the doubled drums of gods anarchic metaphor
//
warm to a thremma
//
adaddy (of lies)
she sings full coverage seashells for sirens
on oceans stews of roiling fatted wine
she forks her sunset locks for nobody
her cockled chains abreast the silvered brine
she quacks and its a salty bouillabaisse
a diddys rouille on croutons midnight crime
she lays to bed adaddy of earthquakes
her morning simmering the sky star-peppered
//
lemon & roses
//
🌘
special delivery
smooth now, that rough magic
periscopic tragic midnight lookout
pale arms out arctic like an exiled
penguin into the nameless city
coping, cold, gauze in a sand storm
laron flicker in the mighty dust
a turning ember, hot
spark-caught, gold-litter
in the spider web
spanning a rattan lamp shade
my one fish, two fish
her peacock greenish-black or blue
the switch, dangling
sarcophagus
so dead; quothe the neon miracle
off-gassing meatlight; or Lalah
pink, with only enough instinct
to kill and never eat, my baby, yes;
deveining ribbons in the snow, scrubbed
scrubbing, awash in the darkroom; or
backstage, up rusty rungs, like icicles; blanket
of rags, pocket of candy-wrapped pills; she goes
like gamelan trancing crickets at the cross
by tilem, smoke of incense over the sawah
//
new years 2026
i witness your erosion through the glass
my history disappearing by the hour
and snow consumes to whiteout; i am cold
turned witless by distance and disbelief
and there are no more familiar houses, faces
are spreading, thinning, greying, pale, the young
mere vanishing into the adult flood, like
we didn’t want any of it
the cruiseliner is sinking into sand
nobody made the call, nevertheless
it’s all you ever say; whoever has a camel
hard fast to roll the tents and carry it
how do you chase your longing through the dunes
and did her caravan leave any trace
or do you doubt if she was ever there
or do you see her in the doe, the goat, the raven
do you become her in the cursive carved
by thirst, the desert bridegroom winding through
until you haunt the edges of their encampment
inhuman as the hajj, kin to al-Shanfara
locals popping-off begin at dusk
explosions quickening unevenly
as child-sized rockets into midnight, when at once
fireworks engulf the island, terrifying animals
i turn a light on for the chickens
Black Ajax has fallen out of his black tree
he gibbers darkly as he hobbles toward me
the light, a blacker perch; gibbering, i walk him through it
//
selamat tahun baru🥂
//
our chickens are
most junglefowl
we don’t fight them
as, with cocks, is done
but they are fighters
//
black wing
mirabilis volubilis
in shaded speculation
her open eye
her slanted sine
the wilting one
the violeting
the surface matte
the silver bell
oil drawn
from olive well
her shelter, solid
green muscle
//
not sore anymore
well and
//
those two
today we mampir at the house of Pak Mangku
his mother passed, so we bring beras, gula, kopi
in my black linen blouse, my undulant parang
sarung, my sober face, not quite smiling, leaving room
for her; the orchids have bloomed, a white cow has died
to follow, and a sherbet sky breaks chains at sunset
swallowing a lavender storm; all in a day’s wok
sometimes i fantasize about the afterlife
bad habit; my sister and my desister here
and here; but when i see the bulbuls and the tits
the fine-feathered egrets’ flight for patchwork light to graze
in full breeding plume, their eyes intently red
i return to stanzas that rhyme, like those two
memory washes the sawah; my season softer by it
//
//
corvid solstish
i saw a crow, but not a city crow
a forest crow, gagak hutan, Corvus enca
her smooth and perceptive, violet-black
matte iridescence, flew over me, up to the green
ravine; from there she turned her black eyes on me
barely here, it was the longest day of the year
a rain-soaked day; but the sun came out that morning
to show her shadowing rainbow and the waterfall
later, some kind of animal, taking a hot shower
stars thread the clouds like icy pinpricks of rain
legs still sore, reflection cooling skopein
ornithologoi, a poet’s favorite color; yes, tilting
//
anywhere but poppies
it’s there
her pane of a window
passing passages
the passing offer to carry
ten thousand atomic lighters
black specks on a braid of challah
or liberate sweet nappers proper
a chilli-laced hotpot, shiitakis, bok choy
garlic, in the valley of compost boxes
loose her transportive reliquaries, poultices
dank delicious opacity compressed of air
silkworms for the mundane pocket
warm pillow for docket signifiers
fingertips heavy with tawny heads
inky notations with nowhere there
to fly, but into the measure, slightly high
pitched on a dry stone wall, for her
a pinkish reddish hazy third, with leaves
to breathe, past purple on the milky way
eclipse, her eyelid, her lippy friend
seamless tracing moving core
//
🌗
sharps & feathers //
receipt
lemons limes
Trojan War
hijab silken
breeze woken
slant pigeon
red of wing
golden floor
keepsake for
her lioness
hijab burning
pulses turning
nostos yearning
]
]
]
]
method ender
plete returning
tender deliver
by river liver
taste radiant
of summer
//
other things said:
Hades?
//
for simple
yes, and
or
Achaean horse
& canto II
//
my ruby eye
O you, who have suckled her bones
who have frowned at her horses
who have fingered her emerald
and now would taste her ruby too
and have i not enough exhaled
her undertowing rose at you
salt-sticky; here is sea-foam on skin
here are pregnant transparencies
and have i not already tossed
such tender and hard-bitten kisses
for sheath, another kris today
treasure accumulates like sand
behold an ever-angled wound
the spindle-pricked porosity of red
i am a self cutting gemstone
i bleed the emptiness of tools
i fling magenta words at birth
behold my prolonged scar of it
historical, faceting pre-wonder
tip that breaks her ice-pick tongue
she was a pirate and a fool
she ate the plexing devil fruit
vermillion stretching pelvic nerve
whose diadem lusts after you
and who is blinded by her kind
my fascination will glint cruel
sent basilisk or blushing bride
your fear will not take care of her
the heart, the fist, the appetite
when Cleopatra mounts insight
my empire burning leonine
by Mars, love’s favored principal
this reign of crimson tears divine
but sanguine as she’s gentle still
barefeet may meet the salad vine
and blue by babbled river’s chill
just so, what beggar wears my crown
is dying round the wheel again
out of her time, out of her mind
sweet dance, my dove perpetual
take this, the heartbeat of a sow
and let it flex upon your palm
it’s wet, the rumbling scarlet jet
now let her throb be thunder found
red wreath for convert cry, the end
how pilgrimage of period stain
i am in time, in time, will out
my ruby eye of her disposable throat
//
ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθανάτ’ Ἀφρόδιτα
& the probing path to yes
//
or not nothing
for saving the phenomena II
and more
//
//
this be a verse
to razors and gashes
and stabbings and worse
no harm is intended
and it’s for the best
//
🕊️
//
& pace Larkin
semi-nude for a photo album
their birthday was the other night
the girls were going out; the grift
delayed by getting ready; gift
of tangled, sappy rattan; caused a fright
pan, she burned some flowers on you
meta-burban, real dream for two
polaroid tacky, pantries full
of shady tatters, curtain bulls
sister, it was no dress for winter
but they were grown enough to drink
something fancy from the blender
fermented guava, lava lake
lavender flannel, camisole
white linen sheets, hung in the sun
nigel and sandi, mel and sue
genre-bender, Java won
high horse, he has a song for you
but i’ll save it for another tone
her sweaty practice, overdue
vinyasa, tapas, organ brew
dizzy lizzy ate some rice
eat, pray, love, the antichrist
jihadi, mum’s worst nightmare
Gandhi, papa’s burnt-off limb
inter-dimensional makeout queen
Osaka airport, caused a scene
village gossip, words above
she’s never catching up on love
not quite posh, but pulp turned through
realism, my lands, god knew
so sliced the flippin' longitude
bless her heart and come on in
agrimony henbane dish
too-schooled harpy hysterical
raised pie of huckleberry fish
turned river-liver radical
there’s mantra in the air tonight
what kue set in sangga stone
rise with the moon, the howling dog
the crone, her voice memorial
white-footed goat is coming home
to graze by fiery sunset view
the desert camel, bringing bones
with mother Durga, chest tattoo
a secret pocket of soil and spice
elaborate belty-thing, rhizomes in knots
not big enough for where you think
whether it is cake
//
(wants cake)
//
texas talkin blues, like this
vernacular from full moon 5/11
genius loci, pura dalem
blog 2-yr anniverse & job well done
//