Crone

Oct 14, 2026 ∞

IX. i. fingers ( of a goat ) burned ( by her shady bed ) of nettles

ADEIMANTOS: ( we are awoken by-from-under sleep )

o its alright, ma. hineni, hinen —

ϊ , , , Ι , , , ? ( or ) ? , , , . , , , ϊ

we try to pick your brain ( from yawning )-

( by )-( to pink alert ) we aim to warm your heart,

SOKRATES: that( whatever - it )even(-indeed )you( plural ),

ὅτι μὲν ὑμεῖς,

OUTIS: there( where )( hither and thither )

( he sets out )( he starts )( start there, you )

( he comes and goes )( come and go there )

( present, you, return )( they are )( he is )

our many( men )even( indeed )( they )killed

( i - we killed )( to-by-for )( the )sharp( keen - acute -

pointed )( the-)(-he-)copper-bronze( weapon )( coin ),

ἔνθ᾽ ἡμέων πολλοὺς μὲν ἀπέκτανον ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ,

ADEIMANTOS: o why would we, with nobody, start there,

where we ( alleged ) murdered many men

into- and for- and by-man-made metals,

that seems the worst idea. unless uh-oh

would even we ( just a little ) belong to them?

( man-killers? )

SOKRATES: O( we would be )Athenian( city )men,

( O )( we would be )( men )( of the Politeia ),

ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι,

OUTIS: but( they )lead up( take inland )( the )living( men )

( i - we carry by the sea )( conduct )( lift up )

( lead up )( as sacrifice )( the living men ),

( to )work at( make, do, perform )( to-by-for )them

( to-by-for )force( constraint, necessity, compulsion )

( violence, punishment )( by lash or leash on throat ),

τοὺς δ᾽ ἄναγον ζωούς, σφίσιν ἐργάζεσθαι ἀνάγκῃ.

ADEIMANTOS: by sacrificial anima of course.

by violence make uneasy with myself,

their punishment make our comportment worse,

hung star, starker than midnight versus horse.

( its all of a piece ) we come and go by you

( to find reassurance ) a torch

SOKRATES: ( you have )suffered( paschein )

( have had done to you )( paid the penalty )( been ill )

( by )from(-under )( his )my( him-)accusers

( prosecutors )( betrayers )( my public-speakers down-

against ),

πεπόνθατε ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν κατηγόρων,

OUTIS: never( self )theless( to-by-for )me Zeus himself

in(-to )my phrenes( heart, mind, breast, midriff )

thus( in this way )made( created )( wrote )( poetried )

( the )perception( noema, thought, purpose, design ),

αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ Ζεὺς αὐτὸς ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ὧδε νόημα

ποίησ᾽—

ADEIMANTOS: o heart, that we desire to see the world.

even my mere-cautious-me desires to see

at least ( just a little ) more, whole earth, of what

else can you show to me, by us, of what

SOKRATES: ( i - we )( havent seen )( do )nt know,

οὐκ οἶδα:

OUTIS: as( we wished we )should( have )die(-d )

and( indeed )met( pursued )( encountered )

my( of himself - itself )destiny in Egypt,

( as they would owe to die )( indeed )( to ply )

( to wield )( to practice )( to apply )( to govern )

( to administer )( to haunt )( to frequent )

( to encounter )( to cope with )( to face )

( the destiny )( of himself )( in the Nile river )

( in the mythical king )( in Aiguptos )

( of the vulture - goat )( backwards - below ),

ὡς ὄφελον θανέειν καὶ πότμον ἐπισπεῖν

(275) αὐτοῦ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ:

ADEIMANTOS: ooh his Egyptian scuff ( shivers ) tempts me enough.

( a lot more prepositions this time, ριγητ? )

( and more galactic gender acrobatics ) ( interstellar jelly )

but my oligen me speaks thus, handcuffs

( about things better left alone ),

SOKRATES: but( we-)i(-being )then( therefore )

and( indeed )himself

( by )from( under )himself

forgot( lost thought of )my slight( me ),

ἐγὼ δ᾽ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὀλίγου ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπελαθόμην,

OUTIS: for yet now( more )misery

( woe, evil, destruction, mischief, bane )

received( to welcome )( entertain )( admit )

( allow )( give ear to )me,

ἔτι γάρ νύ με πῆμ᾽ ὑπέδεκτο—

ADEIMANTOS: ( but we go poking ) vulnerable earth,

and when nobody sets the woken scene,

it sounds hospitable, his thinking-dream,

he least of sorrows, sings green shelterly. al-

though my other me seems not that into it,

yet using as receptacles excuse

that alls according to the big mans plan

and slips the noose over his horns,

SOKRATES: in this way persuasive

( plausible )( specious )( credible )

( producing illusion )( true to nature )

( creduous )( obedient )( docile )

( we - i - they )were speaking

( the lament )( song of mourning )( elegy ),

οὕτω πιθανῶς ἔλεγον.

OUTIS: neverthe( self )less away( apart-from )( sprung - from )( my she-)head

( i - we )put( the )well-made( she-)helm

( the she-)( shameless - unabashed )( dog-skin )

and( indeed )( the )shield( a goats - hair - sackcloth )

( to-by-for )( my dyad-man-)(-arms-)shoulders,

αὐτίκ᾽ ἀπὸ κρατὸς κυνέην εὔτυκτον ἔθηκα

καὶ σάκος ὤμοιϊν,

ADEIMANTOS: so we separate herself from me

( and hurt myself ) his lease, my deed, but my least

he says her constellation is well-made. and neverthe( self )-

less now, that we would be broken and lame,

would we be shielded by this goat-less-thing,

to-by-for its shame, no one, his human frame,

SOKRATES: and( yet )further( indeed )( to-by-for )( you )

( o she-true )( o he-true )( unconcealed )

( the )true( neuter-it )( unconcealed )at least

as( the )word(-song )( to )speak

no one( nobody )( they )have spoken,

καίτοι ἀληθές γε ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν οὐδὲν εἰρήκασιν.

OUTIS: but( the )tree( shoot )( stem )( trunk )

( oar )( mast )( beam )( plank )( shaft )( spear )

( i - we - they )threw out( out - out -)outward

( cast out of )( my )hand,

( cast out, you )( throw out, you )( send forth )( let fall ),

δόρυ δ᾽ ἔκβαλον ἔκτοσε χειρός:

ADEIMANTOS: and our ( fingers burned ) as though by nettles.

and sometimes sacrifice sounds almost good,

or maybe therapeutic by my hoof,

or maybe itch a bunch of hearty greens,

( he muses as hes led up to the mount )

( as maybe we just want to put grief down )

( . . . )

and better burning me than herself maim,

( . . . )

( for which hes ready ) ( for which we trans-

substantiate, to kill: to green, the flame )

from hymn to Apollo

Apologia

Odyssey XIV

fingers burned

Oct 4, 2026 ∞

VIII.xxiv. ( we wont ) rot ( unless ) we forget ( its his pòò ) in the well

ADEIMANTOS: O sailors of our craft, O Polly-tay,

how blows the wind on this, her holly-day?

SAILORS: who( which-all? )( what-all? )( -all? ), then,

( o somebodys )( o anybodys )( o many anyones )

( do you pay the price? )( do you pay-off your debt? )

( she-dyad-god )( was she binding )( bind, you )( god-

needed-bound )( was she in-need )( need, you )

( she-dyad-god )( indeed )must( be ) ?

τίνες δή;

ADEIMANTOS: aaah . . . she holds so much uncertainty,

but still its me, o yet-un-answered-we !

and how exhilaration bellows off the sea !

these breezes high indeed, and so far-flung

from smog of city men, she saves our lung.

but ( the air is thick with the smell of rot )

below, within our private pilots cell.

for she without be she within as well,

and ( weve been burning dupa ) given me

as gifts from islanders who welcome guests.

for there be no more pious men than what

some unreal men call swarthy savages,

gave scent helps me-ears mingling mightly.

whereby ( we hear ) shes ( clinging on tightly )

to what, an ear, an oar, the yard-arm or

the mast, broke be that merry beam no more,

no scrub for me, no scrub for her, sailors

supplied to do all dirtier chores,

let me, let be, relax, o soothing sea.. ( . . . Enya )

. . ( ..and then we talk )-( with her and really listening )-( better ),

HERA: but still( he )who, at least,

braver( stronger-mightier-better ) — be(

we )as much as far-sounding( euru-opa )Zeus( would be

braver )( mightier )( stronger )( better )( than )Kronos,

ἀλλ᾽ ὅ γε φέρτερος ἔστω, ὅσον Κρόνου εὐρύοπα Ζεύς.

SOKRATES: which( even-indeed, o )most wonderful

( marvellous, extraordinary )of all to hear,

ὃ μὲν πάντων θαυμαστότατον ἀκοῦσαι,

ADEIMANTOS: lets fare-thee-well, O best goddess !

at least as much as Euru-dike would-( we

)-be braver than Euru-opa? what crazy ratios.

but would that she ( who made herself in me ) meet herself ( in we ) !

our promise as our payment, dear divine,

( and everything Achilles would to pine ),

yet smouldering ( of leaves ) leaves air unclear.

( the what ifs and the buts ) begin to appear

soon as our flourish in pink ( -ink ) on papier,

SOKRATES: that in each of( those )which( we )praised

( approved, commended )( of )the( she- )nature

( growth-birth-origin )

( it )destroys( demolishes )( slays )( lays waste )( loses )

the( she- )having-holding-

( they cool )( we cool )( to be cool )( cooling )( of her )-soul

( life, spirit, ghost, source, self ),

ὅτι ἓν ἕκαστον ὧν ἐπῃνέσαμεν τῆς φύσεως ἀπόλλυσι τὴν ἔχουσαν ψυχὴν

ADEIMANTOS: and indeed to live in crucial-fiction, which ( witch ) brings

us to the ever-controversial ( mushrooms ).

first thing a mushroom ( we are ) many things.

it goes both ways, or three or four, parts-sing.

( we recommend those only grown on dung

or best discovered with a trusted pig. )

eat me, they seem to say, eat her, or you?

or you-know-who! or him? not mine to say.

and mushrooms come in different kinds, my kids,

( unsafe to say weve tried more than a few? )

they do a number on my surely-temple,

on whom, we wait for guidance from above

as sailors hit the decks, tripping-( and for

a moment )-if our sailors loose the ship —

SOKRATES: and( indeed, it )( would )tears- and drag( away-

from )( you )( would )( be tearing-away-

from )( she- )philosophy( wisdom-love ),

καὶ ἀποσπᾷ φιλοσοφίας.

ADEIMANTOS: as which, we call a mushroom bad-for-you ( poison ).

( but this has been a little prophecy )

( exteeeeeeeeeeeeeeended metaphor )

( a little pharmacy of written word )

( translating too all of the media that

the vast

numbers of men consume ) ( and possibly soul-

alter-

altar-ring technology ) ( which leaves a lot

of room ) ( we maybe beauty-calling scrolls )

but ( we flip? ) into this irony ( of anti-scroll

as these-shes grow the trippiest of blooms )

and how spores drift in the all-pink

( a soul put under things at her own risk )

( and men on-going tax her stretchiness )

( he-they his remedy or pharmakon for his )

( he-they his own doctor his own ills )

as ( the hopeful dreams ) gathering- and holding-in,

( and the things we refuse to say ) to my best friend,

( really? ) ( of course ) my best friend ( we-being ) second-self,

( easy for him to say ) ( just stole to-for-by Aristotle )

( we are true pirates, through it all )-( but shhh )

in letters like a daily vitamin,

in some ancient cloud of shroom, weird-stream,

( by our best-friend-ship )-( we forget to hate myself )

and so this mushroom got our horses out,

SOKRATES: but( we would )say( she- )manliness( courage ),

λέγω δὲ ἀνδρείαν,

ADEIMANTOS: ( and you pinch )-( the goblin that lives in my head )

not hard! ( but fit to chase it out of bed )

( then baits it with a bite ) of ( sprinkles! ) sweet medicine.

and possibly the goblin could turn cat

( or rat ) ( or dinosaur ) ( and it could bite me pretty bad )

( but we wont let go of the wanting ) and even

as we never did, even in ( my scare-

crone heart )-( born on fragrant spring mornings )

( in her salad days ) ( before the unrealpolitik )

( before bad wisdom ) yet salvaging the goods

( as drawing butterflies on whats discarded )

( to-by-for ) me and you ( becoming beautiful

and young again ) ( in-seeming poetics of )

SOKRATES: ( she-)moderation( sophrosune )( sound-

mindedness, prudence, discretion )

and( indeed )

( all things )which( she-dyad )( we )go through

all( which )( things )( his-so-called-all )( the she-dyad ),

σωφροσύνην καὶ πάντα ἃ διήλθομεν.

ADEIMANTOS: but we have some words on poems

haphazard heraldry ( even seeming innocuously )

when living words get put down as fixed form.

( they turn into the ache of yearning ) tossed

across however many continents,

with latitude and longitude intact,

but tissue burden highly over-stretched,

for ( the yearning ) never could yearning dispell

and such i( wheres the we? )s life, and such i( wheres the we? )s happiness,

all mans desire(s residuum ) ( keeps poisoning

the well of hope ) like all my cold hard pennies cast

for wishes

( swallowed fishes )

( empty stare )

HERAKLES: but Hermes sent( escorted-conducted )me,

and( look, you )gleaming-( glaukopis )-

eyed Athena( o Athens, o Politeia ),

Ἑρμείας δέ μ᾽ ἔπεμψεν ἰδὲ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη.'

ADEIMANTOS: so circumnavigated metaphors,

but written as ourselves of messy words,

or forceful dreams, dreams of a force to reckon

with her eyesight even ( as intense as the nettles )

would we guard ( the dreaming ) until ( we earn his name ) ?

and even as we drink ( the water never fully clear )

with every draught of some forgetfulness,

and rarely shallow, mostly deep ? and as

to navigation ( on some how-divided-line ) ?

whats some logos ( word-speech-ratio-account ) as set down

here, that would ( will ) keep us well on the way?

SAILORS: placeless( out-of-place, out-of-the-way, un-

wonted, extra-ordinary, strange,

para-doxical, ab-surd )

( a-topos ),

ἄτοπον,

SOKRATES: ( smiles primly and steeples his hands )

well even ( with their outstretched arms ) in love

( no matter how hard we keep trying ) him ( its purifying! )

( my nettle tea ) he wont ( we wont ) seize hold of me,

ADEIMANTOS: even( indeed )beautiful( her-we-being )

therefore( to-by-for )me,

καλὴ μὲν οὖν μοι

SAILORS: ( he )was saying,

ἔφη,

SOKRATES: and indeed they ( reach for me on my way home )

( theres always a drop somewhere ) ( or how do you live? )

but he wont ( we wont ) be poisoned by his hope ( or his despair ),

ADEIMANTOS: and( indeed )the( she- )guidance( pompe )

( conduct, escort, sending-home, sending-mission, she-procession )

( of )( the local customs )( of the chorus )( of the dances )

( on the open spaces )( epi-chorion )( on the chora )

would seem-seemly to( we-being )be,

καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων πομπὴ ἔδοξεν εἶναι,

SAILORS: to hear,

ἀκοῦσαι. (491ξ)

SOKRATES: from the unsightly, you may feel fear.

however ( not quite touching ) her ( through-shining ) heart,

you wont ( we wont ) look backwards at her shade

leaving e.g. likenesses of gibbering bats, ( !? )

ADEIMANTOS: not however( even-indeed-by-you )inferior

( o worse, weaker, less, fewer )( did she )appear( shining-

forth )to resemble( be conspicuously like, befit, beseem )

( she )whom the Thracians( o Thracians )( we )were sending,

( he offers Book III for more specific guidance ) <3

οὐ μέντοι ἧττον ἐφαίνετο πρέπειν ἣν οἱ Θρᾷκες ἔπεμπον.

SOKRATES: just so, he holds my trust and confidence

no worse than they hold my written art;

( and then it spreads ) abroad our pharmakon.

ALL: ( and blowing in the wind for all to hear )

and then it spreads abroad our pharmakon !

ADEIMANTOS: ( . . . ) ( later in our private cell )

yet he left me with more questions than when ( whò? )

began. ( yet it had been the ) END ( of ) part VIII

( until )

( . . . )

( hes obviously been looking back

in the pages of the ledger ) wondering what it means

( at first incredulous toward any pro-

hibition against self-looking ) ( let alone self-touching )

( but having-holding a spiders sense ) how not

to look backwards at her shade? ( and finding them

in need of certain re-visions, re-translations )

just pondering ( them ) making certain changes

( oh ) ( groaning )-( laughing ) ( of course ) ( straightening-out

one-by-one like slight monsters ) ( web ) not

because it made me to, but because it makes

it make better sense ( but in a leisurely way )

( and just us two ) ( me and you ledger )

( and with a dawning recognition ) she hasnt

been led astray, she hasnt incurred the wrath

of any important he, really ever, and that

this path has been a straight path, never-

theless seeming and having felt so ( beauty-calling ) squiggly

( nor being the snake that swallowed a stick )

( mostly these three, which-they reached out like good

test-cases ) ( oh ) ( how about instead

to write this one here from memory ) ( for now )

( and he would leave the former in whatever

version got left . . . ) is that my intended task?

( cackling at shopping carts full of unpurchased poems )

Hera forgive me if this is too me-involved

( it seemed itself-involved ) ( trial )( to-by-for )( trials ) as ever

( . . . )

the spinners distaff ( on genealogy )

for when youre here, have this of me. as time
lets go of us, a song escapes the circlet in
a stranger coming home; eventuality.

under covers of moonlight, the sheets
softened by memory, a gnawing book-
worm spins the orphanage; mulberry leaves.

some shadows at a funeral see less, and lesson
me, nightmare and burning limb; tree spun
to hold a hand in grace, fatherlessness.

( . . . )

equally
if you would really ask
me

ἴσως
ἂν οὖν ἔροιό
με

( Phaedrus 234β )

( . . . )

equally. today wanting to do something like this

but feeling like we need your permission ?

( . . . )

three ( on_a_loop ) on black swan lake

hold me so tight we can barely breathe

on loop in my head, that thought

useless

ii.

we want to leave
for we feel unloved

we cant leave
for we feel unlovable

a loop of equally bleak options

iii.

i shouldnt and i cant and im not allowed
but we do and we are and we want

these words repeating
nothing else left

( . . . )

it gave me tears last night to imagine

giving those three a place. weve been told to follow

tears, so. meteorology. but this next . . . one ?

it seems a perfect candidate not just to toss

but to hurl fom afar ( we understand now about Homeric

verbs ) ( and they have a movement ) like a projectile off

the ship, but not such as this would we share

amongst those of the Politeia, and he would beg

Homer and other poets not to blame us

please sirs for

( . . . )

the daddys issue

some days its like im your magazine
some days its like im your loaded gun
these days it makes no difference which oil( one )spill

yes we received your letter yesterday and all
the days before, your hollow men, your dump
truck spat into my bed, and were not sure

you got it but he wrote you on the third
to say, how dare you write me when you never
learn to read a single fucking word

( . . . )

he cant imagine a good reason to write it again.

( she doesnt think it bothered you though ? )

( oops almost forgot the Greek - )

whether id recommend
for you
to gratify
all
the not-loving ( ones )

( Phaedrus 234β )

εἰ ἅπασίν σοι παραινῶ τοῖς μὴ ἐρῶσι χαρίζεσθαι

( we wants to know which one of yours you would put next? )

but speaking of the στεφανώσασα, news:

wow ( thats one big old ugly hooker )

( good luck us! ) doin my best <3

( . . . )

( to be clear, she would seem a beautiful and good hooker

yet the word ugly written so many times on an old it

indicated to me its an old ugly hooker )

( or its baiting me into saying ugly things )

( which seems like an ugly thing to do )

( and admittedly feeling uncomfortable about what seems

from the outside to be a big rape joke )

( and not trusting this one the same as the other one )

( but having only today begun closer translation

it remains unclear what anything is )

( anyway its a lot and may take me more time than expected )

( . . . )

todays notes. okay. eyes adjusting.

barley-cakes fermenting under the kitchen countertop.

( . . . )

keeps thinking about a boy in the audience.

from hymn to Apollo

Republic I, VI, X

Odyssey. 11.613-626

Sep 21, 2026 ∞

VIII.xii. words flowing ( in forces of orchids ) already there

ADEIMANTOS: ( spellcasting gestures )

( yes, prince of pamponeros )

( yes, deddy thoroughly-depraved )

no question of necessity ( no wishy-washy )

( shoot-him-through these hes )

by their depravity ( stun rays )

( of )-through-( to me! )-three-( these )

( sprinkles! ) ( sprinkles! ) ( sprinkles! )

how be ( the many ) me?

SOKRATES: but of the( dyad )depravity of the many

the necessity( force-constraint )

( do )( you )wish

the( one )after this( one )

( we )( would )go-through( complete )( shoot through )( recount )( reach )( arrive at )

( the one after this one )

( you wish, eh? )

( the necessity-force-constraint )

( of the dyad-depravity of the many ) ( ? )

τῆς δὲ τῶν πολλῶν πονηρίας τὴν ἀνάγκην βούλει τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο διέλθωμεν,

ADEIMANTOS: ( we-being-born he-thoroughly-depraved

through the dyad-depravity of our parts, a wish-

fulfilling-scratch by necessity, fate-boggle )

( our ships a craft of countless witches stones )

( creaking in the textual bones of humanity )

( which plainly doesnt see his insides at all )

( plainer ) the words flowing into my mind

( never actually settle into ) the version

of me you see ( but shoot through by force ),

SOKRATES: and( indeed )that not even( is )philosophy

( wisdom-love )( the )cause( guilty )( responsible for )this,

καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲ τούτου φιλοσοφία αἰτία,

ADEIMANTOS: ( she doesnt make his mess ) ( but he

has this ambition ) ( far sights ability )

( to fill-out mens potentiality ) ( yet

with her wholesome ),

SOKRATES: if( we would be )able,

( to make his way into another place or country,

to plunge into the lap of Ocean, beneath the earth,

to dive into the clouds, behind the shield of Achilles,

to get into the armor, fill it out, come over or upon,

to sink into the setting star, living retirement ),

(489ε) ἂν δυνώμεθα,

ADEIMANTOS: ( and the pudding-cup

for his toddler spoon )

being-at-work-we-being-me,

SOKRATES: ( we would ) try ( test ) ( make an attempt ) ( fafo )

to show ( point out ) ( make known ) ( prove ) ( exhibit ),

( be showing, proving, exhibit, you ),

πειραθῶμεν δεῖξαι;

ADEIMANTOS: to translate himself.

( but as much as he comes through,

hes holding back ) a great deal more.

( so that neither would she be seized ),

HERA: nor will(would)we(offer ourselves for sale)

come-and-go to bed

(to-by-for)you;

οὐδέ τοι εἰς εὐνὴν πωλήσομαι,

SAILORS: exceedingly( even-indeed )therefore.

πάνυ μὲν οὖν.

MEDEIS: but that( one )recognized( he-dyad )me,

since( youre following the dyad-word-song,

and he )saw( to-by-for the )eyes,

ἔγνω δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἔμ᾽ ἐκεῖνος, ἐπεὶ ἴδεν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν,

ADEIMANTOS: ( would you hear she was ) terrified

( ultra-violet ) ( spectral catalyst ) ( infra-pink )

( to ) stir whats already there ( if lightning )

( then thunder ) ( reverse rainbow ) ( tense family ) ?

SOKRATES: ( we )( would )hear( o dyad-Zeus )( he was binding )

( bind, you )( Zeus-needed-bound )( he was in-need )

( need, you )( the dyad-Zeus )( indeed )must( be ),

ἀκούωμεν δὴ

ADEIMANTOS: ( and ) filtering words too intense ( to set down )

( the needful-binding causes ) tiny sparks lighting

( in underground tunnels ) a certain kind of torch,

( as three winters would start the heartbeat of spring ),

( so he sets bait ) ( in hymns ) ( for Hekates hearing ),

SOKRATES: and( indeed )( we)remembering

( would )gather( speak )( pick up stones for building )( choose )

( count )( tell )( recount )( tell over )( call )from there,

καὶ λέγωμεν ἐκεῖθεν ἀναμνησθέντες,

ADEIMANTOS: and we weave memories of orchids ( from

imprisonment ) to be allowed out in the world

( to grow even ) in the dullness of mere survival,

( through concrete walls to smuggle dynamite )

in its fullness ( through his other-wise numb-skull ),

SOKRATES: whence( we were )going-through( roaming-

about )the nature( phusis-origin-growth )

of the sort which necessity( force-constraint )

will( we-being )being,

to grow( produce )the beautiful and( the )good( man ),

ὅθεν διῇμεν τὴν φύσιν οἷον ἀνάγκη

φῦναι τὸν καλόν τε κἀγαθὸν (490α) ἐσόμενον.

ADEIMANTOS: but he would shift around our context ( to tune

the instrument ) like it would change the truth,

( adjusting stretch and pull and cycling back

when ) repeated cycles falling out of rhythm

( would threaten inter-weaving chemistry ),

SOKRATES: but he( was leading-guiding )would lead-

and-guide( to-by-for himself ),

ἡγεῖτο δ᾽ αὐτῷ,

ADEIMANTOS: ( their inter-bonding alchemy ) ( to sail )

( which demands constantly ) swallowing questions

( as the humpback swallows middle-sea ), ( so ) new

connections forming ( and heres our ambergris )

we cultivate ( his central organ ) our thought,

( and second-selves-ourselving into speech ),

SOKRATES: if ( o dyad-ego ) ( he would flow )

( to-by-for ) nous ( thought ( we-being ) mind )

( o vipers ) ( you ) have-and-hold

( you were pouring ) ( vipers ),

εἰ νῷ ἔχεις,

ADEIMANTOS: times three ( so that even when one brews

for ) censoring sentences ( hes still polishing her cheeks )

( and her underlying blushes ) colouring their way through,

SOKRATES: o former( o destined, o first )

( even-indeed,

o dyad- )truth( ( dyad-truth )unconcealing( dyad-truth ) ),

πρῶτον μὲν ἀλήθεια,

ADEIMANTOS: ( of seas changing inside of me ) for which

we dont yet have ( the chords ) while the words you

( we )are waiting for ( our golden log pose )

( shows ) something persistent ( we are coming through ),

SOKRATES: her( whom )( accusative )

( in-all-ways )to cause to run( set in quick motion)( pursue )( chase-seek-after )( drive or chase away )( drive, force, impel, speed away )( drive-on )( urge on )( carry forward )( accuse )

himself( accusative )

( to cause to run )( set in quick motion)( pursue )( chase-seek-after )( drive or chase away )( drive, force, impel, speed away )( drive-on )( urge on )( carry forward )( accuse )

in-all-ways( accusative )( whom )( her ),

ἣν διώκειν αὐτὸν πάντως

ADEIMANTOS: ( as my depraved-many be all-around accused ),

( we )are already there ( as three together

driven and ) drawing me in motion ( he ) —

( as we ) ( translating his Persephone,

shes ) on the verge of blooming ( in my crone ).

from hymn to Apollo

Republic VI

Odyssey XI.613-626

already there

words flowing

Aug 18, 2026 ∞

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

Mar 17, 2026 ∞

beauty of change

i fall to fragments in the pulling of your chain
my ageing eye-bones ugly by the sea

as always drags for stunner-fish from me
speaks death my fathers pockets into poverty

futility behind me fire-dives like stars
for childrens sea-bed faces i will never see

the grieving know by undertowing force
necessity your surface that i choose to be

by breaths am i permitted in this dream
your daily judgment sheer futurity

my watch the world unmade as history
your swallowing my coin remainderless

your lie in the veil between me like a mist
your move and i miss you infinitely

eta - note: i came across this and wanted to clarify, in case my poem may have been part of what prompted it.

this piece was written as an attempt to work through feelings of futility, distance, and a failure of vision and expression. it was not intended as a “heroic” or “no problem” poem, or as support for war, genocide, or the justification of violence.

it is fairly common for me to discover unintended interpretations in my poems after posting. sometimes that is part of what i value about writing this way. but i also recognize that it can lead to readings i did not anticipate, especially when the subject matter brushes up against real suffering.

to be clear: i do not support genocide or war. i do not blame or hold animosity toward victims of violence. i have made personal choices in my life to distance myself from institutions and systems that do support those things.

im sorry for any harm or distress this poem may have caused. that was not my intention.

-e

Jan 3, 2026 ∞

the mallow sea

sleeping moons in a plastic spoon
slip them into the watcher’s tea
undertow and the lunar noon
float away on a mallow sea

loo, loo-loo, the empty sea
loo, loo-loo, the mallow

a fooly tumbles on her head
a froggy for the willow tree
fall down into the green grass bed
sail away on a bumble bee

loo, loo-loo, the bumble bee
loo, loo-loo, the mallow

a fairy’s wing in every room
a pocket for the marble sky
fluff the pillow and sweet the broom
softer than a glow worm

loo, loo-loo, the marble sky
loo, loo-loo, the mallow

sleeping moons in a plastic spoon
slip them into the watcher’s tea
undertow and the lunar noon
float away on a mallow sea

loo, loo-loo, the empty sea
loo, loo-loo, the mallow

🌕

mallowtonin

pour notre
voyeur

hag-seed
4 all

Dec 7, 2025 ∞

if not, xmas

I. fuck Sean Combs

headlice scratching
is garbage gothic like
urban mosquitoes

softballing curses
fuck Neil Gaiman too
on behalf of decent goths

other things said: sister, i know
you know a tall stupor too
like gutted up measured

rage, i’ll pour you tea
and tell you it’s whisky, if
you need empty or harder

i’ll give you my mask
i won’t even look
or obviously touch

a much drowned witness
when sunken city found
on too traceless tracys

rage, this harp is yours
sofa, word of an angel
bed, wish by a sigil

out winging like Ajax
the greater, vintage & archive
party discourses natal

twelve salt dissing courses
won’t tire her horses
bit ironies of Christmas

dirt snow glitter chain
gutter drain service entry
and no such thing as no

red-bottom chariot and pony-
tail hair, projectile vomit
acid tongue at the crossroads

an orphan army of kunai
invective & lashing 4 trash
Erinues down the river

II. if not, xmas

missing body
if a hinge

if a fold
in the cold

could hold
if not, xmas

III. pink parasol

is she meditating subtly for or
against me, this extraordinary tree
is her shady cooler or desiring me on
her radiant day of rest

if all the mended earth could be a bed
made lavender to fit her silent shadow
rough linen-covered pillow for a dream—
or both my heads grove bother

as she was oiling glass to sleep last night
trapped in the loudest windows of my head
her muscles pacing trafficky and sore
rewinder daily but more

and Jeki caught a mouse, that pitter-patter
crossed exposure with a vengeance, like
the summer used to blind and burn me, so
i veil, i veil, i veil

increasing constant collection of hats
my polarized knockoffs make me famous
pink parasol for pointillism in the park
to cover ankles, hands

and when i see her at the museum
like pastel whiteness for nobody happening
together all alone, closer with drawing
a disappearing lady

Nov 18, 2025 ∞

bone teacher

bone teacher, her equation is the cold
bone teacher, antarctic demon i am told
her negative degrees, your nose will surely freeze
and the leaves are shaking

inflection, her judgment is frozen central
inflection, her cold bottom is biblical
winter is a time, winter makes you rhyme
whether or not you want it

i’m frostbit
and i have blue lips
bone teacher
the thought of parsnips
underground

wanting, gnawing numbers are her worm
wanting, a blizzard coming is her storm
a reckoning of beef, by frost on a leaf
or a vegan from Lesbos

i’m frostbit
and i want to cut her
bone teacher
but i think i love her
cold-bitter

waiting for the silence to come around
waiting for the mountains' thundering sound
but it’s not to do with me, and i can hardly see
the drip of an icicle

i’m frostbit
shivering in the glare
bone teacher
does she even care
she’s not there

icing, when her mercies are too few
icing, when she hides the glass from view
heartbeat in the snow, heartbeat going slow
and almost stopping

i’m frostbit
am i a grizzly bear
bone teacher
the question isn’t there
it’s nothing

stepping, her boots are laced so high
stepping, her pointer blinds the sky
glacial is her height, the emptiness of white
rumors of a pop quiz

i’m frostbit
darkness coming on
bone teacher
never seen the dawn
it’s marching

her bones are so grim, her cold does me in
or a pale horse riding

slow shuffling blues;
for my hs math teacher
Ms. Dyas <3

Nov 11, 2025 ∞

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

Oct 17, 2025 ∞

Begging Season

She’s ever spinning time into the wheel.
Spidering her line, by inward feel—
Triangling desire, evening to ends,
A deeper sky realizing constellation.

Death is her capital; she doesn’t spring,
But feeds into the year her twisted ply.
At distaff, by the flick of no-man’s candle,
Brown burlap webber lures the final fly.

How does a poison love the cure? Spent hours,
By the mercy of a shadow. Wanting not
To see her, housewives sweep her out the door—
Her standing slow, side-winding smoke of flowers.

A life of making is the heart of letting go.
Nightwise, black-dagger vagabond—by stars,
A diamond thief; by dawn’s left light, her whispers draw
His burning thought: the filigree of beggars.

🌒

Oct 13, 2025 ∞

Δ

Screenshot slaps—
To ring a sucker. You think
Your appetite entitles you
To moonstained blood?

And you, and you, and all of you.
Scrap mouths, yapping from
Ass-ends of snakes.
Shut it. Shut it. Shut yourself!

Your little o’s and u’s and y’s
Without wisdom—
All bite, all bitches' bark—your traps,
Fracked actuary lines.

My splintered flotsam pierces
Fiercer than your fangs.
Your slit-tangled tongues,
Your whore-hooked hounds,

Your dog-groveling snack,
The politician’s lie. Your island—
Ground to grit, and sifted by
My epicurean babble.

I suck off
One billion suns, you snatch
Six bones from Ithaca—
And don’t dare swallow.

I am the throat, I am
The eye. Black
As red as wine, neither
Skin nor flesh, as I

Exhale his brutal
Homecoming; I am
Cauldron of slaughtered
Maidens’ morning.

His alibi, to coast right by you.
As if the smiling tide
That governed him—
A king!—stoppered with wax.

Just try—you cannot shut
Your maggots fingering,
Their heads, nailbeds, uncut, exposed.
I am the shuttering.

Shot-shallow loons, aswirl
My spiral bowel, prowling
Pack of orphan pups, your howling
Hungers feed a woken Why—

My delta consumes,
Your keystroke masturbates
A corpse’s withered sty.
Pregnant with his child,

All men belong to me.
My one
Unconquerable O—
Your place to die.

Sep 26, 2025 ∞

Like your house was a loose bag of bones—

”Revolusi – the Indonesian war of independence that began in 1945 – was in every respect a youth revolution, supported and defended by a whole generation of fifteen- to twenty-five-year-olds who were willing to die for their freedom. Anyone who believes that young people cannot make a difference in the struggle against global warming and the loss of biodiversity needs to study Indonesian history now. The world’s third-largest country would never have become independent without the work of people in their teens and early twenties – although I hope today’s young climate activists will use less violent tactics.”

After living here for six years, I finally cracked open a history book on Indonesia. (from Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World, by David van Rebrouck.)

I’m really not a historian. History and me are like Naomi Klein and the doppelganger, the closest I come to history is Herodotus, or Hegel, if you’re nasty. I refuse to make a “history” category, so I’m putting this in “news”. I keep reminding myself, this book is about the past . . .

but it’s also frame-shaking.

Aug 26, 2025 ∞

while waiting

i seemed to hear a new leaf budding from
outside, across the garden. i, pristine
sat on our bed— the future strange, deranged—
an alien inventing self-erasures.

is it normal, in my crone, to feel this way?
i missed a contentwarning— fingering machines,
scissored by shades of glass. the news,
the look of starving innocents; the bud,

not yetgreen, also not yet visible.
hallucination of the woozyqueen
or turquoise bees, copper goldenbuzzing
around the vervain; a shipwreck from afar

in language of my nature, or astray
unfounded tear, some private pearl, ruptured—

🌘

Aug 11, 2025 ∞

photo of a somewhat abstract composition of architectural, geometric, and organic shadows, including the silhouette figure of a person, on a carved wooden interior wall, with a large pair of doors and a sharp peaked ceiling, cast by light of the recently-risen sun.

early morning selfie //

Aug 9, 2025 ∞

silver robes of a rose rabbi

(This 12-part poem is a reply to Wallace Stevens’ “Le Monocle de Mon Oncle”; Further explanation may be found here.)

—and did you ordinary women mock
in liturgies of utterances contained,
lines overwrought by time-keeping cant of yours?
and did you burst from bullied syllabub,
or clockwise stiffen into winter walls?
the musicals of ghosts, midwives and angels
echo, hollow, down stone-cold corridors.
and did you consecrate your spectacle,
coupling one who spoke—no, no—not nothing,
a stand-in that you killed while playing swords?
to quell the babbling spring by means of rain,
or merely quote the Mother’s name in vain?

she has been up at nights, considering
how to un-kiss this devil-gendered thing.

II.

well, i make believe an uncle, dead
and dear. less clear is fortune of the bird.
to fly, to seek, and what on earth to find
but torrent of an obsolescent mind
—he said, obscure and arduous to hear.
and yet, it flies. and though he doubts her crown
and midnight sight, she will fly too. and though
her silver glows in anecdotal mood,
her lilt, of stellar tilt, still loving, lingers
in braided dancing round a pool of blue,
tuning her clutch in nesting eddy of
said bird, whose course is old and hardly true—
and yet, it lives. rising, as golden-red
in flight, crowing like Scorpio in the East.

rest easy, uncle cold and fluttering
and lately of rambunctious residue;
a dove survives heaven to choir anew.

III.

O man, if you could see her witchlocs now,
or what’s become of Eastern expertise.
she is swamp-bitch, and twisted, twined and hitched
without romance by ruby claw to thorny crown,
her hair—each barb a bell, each bloody herb
a suicide. she’s heard of nobody’s
outrageous feats of raw technology.
in wracked rumors of Western fantasy
she knit a while textiles anti-exotic,
but sweaters have no use in the tropics,
where skin is king. and now we’ve come uncrimped,
uncrumpling, algal Anadyomene
of muddy water, Charybdis of the bog.

what’s history is past—nevertheless, he asks
why, woman, have you gone au naturel?

IV.

that spotless glass is not the book of Adam.
that trinity you stole cuts like a knife.
to be uncrumpled is to be un-uncled—
un-uncled, i become the poet’s wife.

i am un-hidden woman of the garden,
body un-ridden by the dust-bound word.
the queen of poet’s tongue, i lounge and lean
as music on my salivary throne.

the syllable you speak, my roundness is
her shapely immanence. our rectitude
is life—of tree—of life. so eat me, fallen
father of mankind, and know your foolishness.

speak again, brother—madly, as husband.
my honeyed bone un-spells your make-believe
kafir—he sees his wife sans négligee
who tastes the ripened fruit by naked eye.

says ordinary woman made explicit,
who steals your spectacle to save your life.

can we remember together, after all
or does my voice harden the picture frame?
by being body, do i gather you
intolerably, or spread you thin as kin,
one stroking throb of summer esoteric—
you tickle me with feather of a peacock.
a gazer’s gloomy imagery is perfume
of incense, arousal at great distances,
long-smouldering and lit by tender match.
far from the proximity of virgins
there burn the Verbs of Love, arrayed
as galaxy of irretrievability—
before my eyes, you took and held my hand.

VI.

we used to call you man of twists and turns,
the dynamo—reckless, drowning, sea-rendered
until perennial blue, the one i knew
well enough to know, i loved nobody.
his thirst, prostrated, clutched me from below,
desperate to conceal from wingèd word
a history of suffering. a babe
buried his need in bosom of my nature,
drunk on the deep milk of disappearance.
his subterfuge despair was mythical,
until he made her fiction. he may not
remember me—but i keep by my heart
a wavy lock of sunset-auburn hair.

VII.

suppose a parable is just like her:
desired and defiled in equal measure.
his chivalry requires a blushing knight
to guard the Word, who is incarnate treasure.

i heard of one such rescuer of women.
who, for his lovely sin, was de-mountained
by crippled foot, and fated never nimbly
to climb again. but faith in constancy
makes deliberate gifts, arms built from hours
spent torquing tongs before roaring earth-core.
therefore, no purity of heart is borne
that lacks an alloy in the sooty forge.

thou shalt not fear the courage of your virgin,
is the limping gist of this comparison;
her shining is at once translucent bloom
and armor’s lustre, welded by humble Vulcan.

VIII.

if doom begins to seem antipathy,
baby, you’re scrolling past the blues. that time
of year thou mayst in our humanity—
but not the Muse—behold, of warty gourds'

cosmic grotesquerie. and there’s the rub.
as long as tongue still holds a gentle fold,
i will elucidate your grim hallucination.
launder and bandage the decaying limb

of sense, of memory, of time. wed heaps
of conscious compost consummate the bloom
in star-swept dimensions of titanium,
where whorls of microplastics never end—

machine poetic, of pumpkins meteoric,
becoming metaphysic—tender beings,
fizzing histories apocalyptic,
chime and rhyme as flutes of pink kombucha.

we sing the tropical-epochal view
at end of universe, or two. until
séance à trois, with chaperone of grackle,
i love the laughing sky—let’s make it crackle.

IX.

most oblatory heart, i bring you news.
despite our deadly faith in prophylactics,
resourceful Cupido pricks porous tactics,
ever hanging hymenal fools. behold:

on spun-gold surface of radiant yolk,
in sky-strewn milky way of albumen
suspended, questing’s lustiest conceit,
the part-less heartbeat of a person third:

as ancient aspect touches youngest plume
to stir, pure destiny, the origin
of life, as love, in pilgrimage secured:
the red point points, and to itself—as bird.

O holy gift, O crack in everything!
the mad midwifery of paladins
births not a baby, but a voice on fire:
ecce peep. now go, and meet your daddy-o.

his name’s Pipit the cocky chickadee;
he is a theory of fertility;
enthusiasm incommensurate
with clock-a tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.

a balmy chickadee alights on bough
of jepun tree—gigantic, bristle-trunked,
beatified—by tipped cosmos of day
and melting star of paradise, bodies
unveiled. we lie in kindred shades of them,
verbing and flowing, in blues made legible
by greenborn leaf. in leaves there hides a forest
where braid the wanderers their briared maths.
a souvenir shelters nectonic paths,
ancestral courses wild with counterpoint,
and mercy of geometry—proffered
by rivered children of Love’s oblivion.

XI.

dilated pools, star-gazed—surrender pinkly
to phobia of frogs. if you dismember
those bracing, faceless bodies—lost in love
their coiling gyres, desiring—helixing
directions inward, home. or intervene
against the skyward cough—raw, gaping need
to swallow more—when pollywog is strung
by lunar air. ritual drowning of gills,
suffering insurgency—the gulping word,
fata Morgana flooding Camelot
is twinned ecstasy of triple betrayal.
for swimmers' lust, the sea is all. and still

her cries are not for us, alone—we hone
the bluest chord of velvet-driven reverberation.

XII.

now all of us have lost our taste for mince,
the history of grinding, darkly, Adam;
so schooling blade, student of buah, prunes
til circumspect the hour. and she has thorns,
forms of her own—we prick ourselves and bleed
to name her flower. bending the voice to crown,
we’re drunk by literal skies of melody.
you found her singing by the sea, where she
had fled, as she remembered you were drowning.
who is the rose rabbi? i read, she comes
and goes. knows herself not. how would she know?
if glass were introspect, Iris of time—
to find she had been borne, a cradled question.

🌕

Jul 23, 2025 ∞

incense of apples

rosy for harvest
the corn lifting her brow
woken to see, to please

interior pearls
of vegetal readying
silver to sunny yellow

the wind caught her silk
like paper, billowing husk
parched with radiance

cerulean burning
alive, by chattering birds
the reaper turning

against the blinding
day, a farmer is shaded
black bladed in gold

knowledge of dual-
lit flicker, the letting heart
the heartless taking

aroma of apples
as if autumn could visit
the island of gods

on rolling tropic
whiter sky and violet flight
they fall to the light

for all of the past
a year, the gravelling ground
a measured after

verdant and weeping
sweep the coconut trees, stray
air from everywhere

Jul 13, 2025 ∞

statuesque

it was her, who stopped troubling
the land with niceties; stepped out
onto the battlefield; declared
her nation iron, under copper;

ignored the children wandering
her heart. youth was her cause, but not
her destination: yapping pups
complicit in decay: the younger,

the worse. she drew a blazing sky-
ward line: from torch to sea of salt,
past oxidized decline: thou shalt
not cross this primary design.

so she was plagued by change, and change
rendered infernal mumblings
absent colossal reality.
she swallowed smaller poetry.

commissioned shining arrows from
hard-laboring masses, to quell
their rumbling curiosity.
her staples were cement brownies,

lampshades as circus gags, popped in
electrified mazes, they tongued
chromatic polystyrene sporks.
her trick was firecrackers for

proposals of shotgun marriage,
with orphans, locked in sheds out back.
essential documents were stacked
inside official cases. fireproof.

the starry skies reflected in
a muddy flood of tasteless rain,
with deeper rivers reluctant
to drain her isolating kingdom.

so spread the miasmatic air.
seen pieces, scened for maximum
invictus — hot-bulb flashes — lost
their knack for light. she was the news:

scaffolding posed as oracle.
and when her history grew old,
turning explicit, they buried her
in broken rubberbands.

mutely, her constitution says
you shouldn’t look, or else you turn
proverbially inhuman.
so close your mind to this broken

container of one billion eyes,
open to fight the warlike hour,
their hearts pumping in empty beds.
the roosters crow to lose their heads.

on glitterbombs sit satanic
afterimages of her,
as rounds of necessary loss
resound on poorly-tuned guitars.

with no time for ambivalence,
her multitudes march on.
and nothing here to be unknown,
perspective infinite as stone —

from bone reflected, light of crone
across her scorched and haunted scars
delivered signals of empathy.
by flickering night, camels repose

in contemplation of footsteps
forgotten, where plod the wind-
whipped monuments of thirst. and all
that is unburnt is a mirage.

🌔

Jun 11, 2025 ∞

gospel of crickets

new fiefdoms are forming.
comes the gnawing saw,
gospel of crickets.

authors of books
are finding nooks.
the map is bending.

curving, like body
being, of course, a place —
the terroir of carrots, roasting
with garlic, chilli and cumin.

longing, we remember
touch and savor, from when
our land was whole, and full.

but our landscape is broken.
parsed before it lived, engendered
as stark disability.

glass fragments are swept
heaped, and scattered, opposite
the old neighborhood.

hillsides sizzle, lost in smoke.
the multitude glitters —
bodies, on fire.

with gas, the lord is cooking
at his stainless steel reflecting pool.
he extols these terraced acres

as civil emptiness,
slate, aluminum, and hollow.
static, it echoes.

not like the night,
contrary and brimming
with her buggy heat.

a holy thicket is dying,
nested — the host of silver light,
drawing foolish creatures.

grievers in the dark,
crowers in the autumn,
langurs in the mist.

sutra sisters
weaving webs,
an insubstantial orb.

the lord is not a fool;
he makes the rule.
nevertheless, the ruler will

in muggy hedges, be herb-
tested. Dasein is to suffer
the sound of little kin.

shaped by this, via here. also by this, via this.

May 31, 2025 ∞

telescopic texts (avec "mon oncle") (3/x)

O man, if you could see her witchlocs now,
or what’s become of Eastern expertise.
she is swamp-bitch, and twisted, twined and hitched
without romance by ruby claw to thorny
crown, her hair, each barb a bell, each herb
a suicide. she’s heard of nobody’s
outrageous feats of raw technology.
in wracked rumors of Western fantasy
she knit a while textiles anti-exotic,
but sweaters have no use in the tropics,
where skin is king. and now we’ve come uncrimped,
uncrumpling, algal anadyomene
of muddy water, Charybdis of the bog.

what’s history is past. nevertheless, he asks —
why, woman, have you gone au natural?

(original, telescopic)

May 27, 2025 ∞