Pharmakon
grabbed by the dog
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
ye syes yes yes yes yes yes yesss
o my godddddgodgodgod theres an elephant
guess what color!
my plushie is a psychedelic substance
it hascome to take over the universe, yall —
κἀγὼ
being carried apart
or(am i
really)(it says)(be i n g l y
or)have you not sensed and perceived(
and have you not been run into — )that
these(girlssssss) in this way, they speak
(and lay )(by speaking and laying) . . .
and (she has and holds and carries
and you have and hold and carry
and) it makes flow and pour
and shed and scatter
and shatter (by
the forked-
tongue-
vip-
er
)
?
ἢ οὐκ ᾔσθησαι
ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως
λέγουσίν τε καὶ ἔχει
155ξ
//
mogis pos
mogis pos
mogis pos
wherein fearlessness be found our freedom
and once more, again, anew, how — possibly back-
wards, by the beach dog — bow wow — aouuu . . .
the aim — waiting and looking — for the she-head —
if someday, dri nkinsymposian-drunk, would be —
to take care — you take care — it would take care —
of herself by herself —
but without — us finishing it — we being — her soul —
we sending her up — in fearlessness — letting her howl —
O whole of a body, make me whole, to be whole —
our lunations, as do we, as we do — toward home —
remain many un-thinking-fool-ish-nesses . . .
καὶ αὖ
τὸ τὴν κεφαλὴν οἴεσθαι
ἄν ποτε θεραπεῦσαι
αὐτὴν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῆς
ἄνευ
ὅλου τοῦ σώματος
πολλὴν ἄνοιαν εἶναι
//
mogis pos
psuche
wild
🌒
a sentence around ultra-violetting girls
for we are, O Charmides, the love-charming eyes,
and like this she-song, the sort not to claim powers
to make healthy and sound the lonely head,
but like youre already making equals delights,
twice-sevenning and hearing-do-gooding healers,
(you do good)(lets do good)(our best)(as we can),
whenever anyone, as you and me, comes to them-
selves, as pain-suffering eyes,
they say, somehow, by saying that it doesnt do,
to put hands on solitary selves (you make alone)(as
you, ultra-violetting, you were and will be crying
aloud) to cure the eyes,
but it(perforce, from prison)(it lets)(let it)would be
our girls, and at the same time, would be necessary
to take care of her-head,
if it would be destined, by intending to do, and indeed,
(i see you)(you see me)(we give sight)(to giving sight),
to have well, and to hold well, the shes of the eyes,
ἔστι γάρ,
ὦ Χαρμίδη
τοιαύτη οἵα μὴ δύνασθαι
τὴν κεφαλὴν μόνον ὑγιᾶ ποιεῖν
ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ἴσως
ἤδη καὶ σὺ ἀκήκοας
τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἰατρῶν
ἐπειδάν τις αὐτοῖς προσέλθῃ
τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀλγῶν
λέγουσί που ὅτι
οὐχ οἷόν τε
αὐτοὺς μόνους ἐπιχειρεῖν
τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἰᾶσθαι
ἀλλ᾽ ἀναγκαῖον εἴη
ἅμα καὶ
τὴν κεφαλὴν θεραπεύειν
εἰ μέλλοι
καὶ τὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων εὖ ἔχειν
156β
//
mogis pos
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
mogis pos (everyday tears)
same
you said
but were we the same
as you yourself were asking
if i would know and set it down
the medicine for my head, it
said, to leave you behind, to
work the pain through, by any
means, to hear you ask again
self-separating i answer-from
that i would know and set it down
who which really i
am he says truly
we
ὅμως δὲ
αὐτοῦ ἐρωτήσαντος
εἰ ἐπισταίμην
τὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς φάρμακον
μόγις πως
ἀπεκρινάμην
ὅτι ἐπισταίμην
τί οὖν
ἦ δ᾽ ὅς
ἐστίν
155ε
//
mugi-mugi pos
dear dailys
please note
future revisions
to previous days
maybe noted
mogis pos
our wordless moment
and after the showing
of Critias that i
would(suffer)be(ing)(it)he
knowing the pharmakon
and it(you) would look right into my eyes(is)(isis)
a sort of helplessness(amechanon)
and it(you were) leading up as(if) will(ing love to) ask
(would you be here forever
i am already here
were this my nature)
ἐπειδὴ δέ φράσαντος
τοῦ Κριτίου ὅτι ἐγὼ
εἴην ὁ
τὸ φάρμακον ἐπιστάμενος
ἐνέβλεψέν τέ μοι τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς
ἀμήχανόν τι οἷον
καὶ ἀνήγετο ὡς ἐρωτήσων
155ξ
his own death
πρὸς οὖν ἐμὲ ὁ Κριτίας
Ἔναγχός τοι
ἔφη
βαρύνεσθαί
τι τὴν κεφαλὴν
ἕωθεν
ἀνιστάμενος
ἀλλὰ τί σε κωλύει
προσποιήσασθαι
πρὸς αὐτὸν
ἐπίστασθαί
τι κεφαλῆς φάρμακον
nothing
(they are)(it was)i was(saying)
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
//
🌒
underneath a circle
the face of the moon
sheds her shimmering veils
until the night sky
goes quiet again
to give the charm or bite the leaf
a river coursing swift or deep
through horn or through ivory
at around noon
grey eyes toward the ground
in swastikasana underneath
a circle of blue
(from a prison cell)
//
Phaedrus:
how (ti) does it shine (phainetai)
by you
O Socrates
the logos?
τί σοι φαίνεται
ὦ Σώκρατες
ὁ λόγος
//
🌑
Rafflesia arnoldii
it smells like a rotting corpse
they say, of the reddish-brown giantess
whose speckled blossom murks the jungle cloud
in Kalimantan with her foul putrescence.
blowflies in frenzied ritual surround
her swollen beef-like lips, unfurling with
a steamy hiss.
you steal the kiss.
and wipe your conscience with
a bloody handkerchief.
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
and not (to gratify or make well) those who
having done-it-through (dia-prassein)
will befriend honor (philo-timeomai)
toward others
but those who
(self-)uglying (aischunein)
will keep silence (simopaein)
toward the all
οὐδὲ οἳ διαπραξάμενοι πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους φιλοτιμήσονται
ἀλλ᾽ οἵτινες αἰσχυνόμενοι πρὸς ἅπαντας σιωπήσονται
//
warning label
we have a few best friends
every one of them wears a veil
these are their reasons
when one comes in
(by then its already too late)
the heart itself goes inside-out
every one of them should
come with a warning
label
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
and so surely indeed
in private consummation (idiais dapanaein)
it is worthy to call near (para-kaleein)
not beloveds (philoi)
but beggars (pros-aiteein)
and ones needing to be filled (deomenous plesmones)
// 233δ
καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις δαπάναις
οὐ τοὺς φίλους ἄξιον παρακαλεῖν
ἀλλὰ τοὺς προσαιτοῦντας καὶ τοὺς δεομένους πλησμονῆς
broken poem / ugly poem
broken poem
if this presents itself to you
that friendship is not born
unless somebody happens
to be hungry for your heart
if this presents itself to you
that children are not made
much
nor are fathers and mothers
if this presents itself to you
finding your heart in need
and needing to acquire
a trustworthy friend
i believe you
i do not wonder why
i have been there too
but this
is not that place
so
make me
a broken poem
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
then if this presents (itself) (paristanai) to you
that such strong friendship (ischuran philian)
is not born (gignomai)
unless someone happens (tugchanein)
to be loving (eros)
it is necessary (chre)
to (go) into the heart (en-thumeisthai)
that neither would we make (poieein)
children
about much (peri pollou)
nor fathers and mothers
nor would we have acquired (ktaomai)
trustworthy (pistos)
friends (philos)
who have become (gignomai) such
not from desire (epi-thumia)
but from other (heteron)
practices (epi-tedeumaton)
// 233ξ
εἰ δ᾽ ἄρα σοι τοῦτο παρέστηκεν
ὡς οὐχ οἷόν τε ἰσχυρὰν φιλίαν γενέσθαι
ἐὰν μή τις ἐρῶν τυγχάνῃ
ἐνθυμεῖσθαι χρὴ
ὅτι οὔτ᾽ ἂν τοὺς ὑεῖς περὶ πολλοῦ ἐποιούμεθα
οὔτ᾽ ἂν τοὺς πατέρας καὶ τὰς μητέρας
οὔτ᾽ ἂν πιστοὺς φίλους ἐκεκτήμεθα
οἳ οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιθυμίας τοιαύτης γεγόνασιν
ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ἑτέρων ἐπιτηδευμάτων
//
ugly poem
lettuce share
sandwich of ends
open-face
if-only
our eggs are smeared
with chickenshit
no lie
look at all those words
does it mean
i can take
the weekend off now
does it mean
my broken poem
is being swallowed up
(may it
be so)
and digested by
the ugly one
you turn
me into
//
🌓
Saxophone Appreciation Day
a person is (still)
a possibility
of change.
one day on earth (again)
a kind comedian
or a possibly retired RN
remade me by scattered clouds
ever since then
its like i was given
a tiny floating pill (pill)
but dont blame him.
Bognet is also Like
the times. goes out
and in, mudworks
the hardly-forgiven
swallower-set-whole.
of a tiny rubber boot,
of preservation,
of a soul.
but i think they got it right.
That once you hear
and train your ear-
Pore on that Play-
out thats Really
In, that
Saxophone —
it gets you
by the vowels,
by those star-
climbing
Bowels.
and doesnt ever set
you down!
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
for such as these
are the demonstrations (epideiknomai)
of love (eros)
// 233β
τοιαῦτα γὰρ ὁ ἔρως ἐπιδείκνυται
//
to out of my pores by coldscars
and You would be forgiven by Michael Julius
(how could one not
be grateful
to be feasted
with such clouds)
with Aristophanes “The Clouds”
“The Saxophone Song” by Kate Bush
Black Lives
Black Thought
Black Music
and of Socrates lore
from Plato’s “Symposium”
when the beloveds ridiculous
body sits beside
in conversation with
the comic poet
//
🌘
stranger like desire
you will come
into the desert
to know me
you will touch me like a stranger
as many strokes
as many surfaces
as many names
as many hungry palms
as your servant can carry
so empty this
your lick across the burning sand
electricity of my thirst
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
you will come (hekein)
into difference (diaphora)
with them
// 232δ
ἥξεις αὐτοῖς εἰς διαφοράν
//
red (palm) sugar
you will come
into the dessert
to taste them
you will eat fried plantains
ripened until soft and sweet
crunchy with red sugar
too hot for wasted time
i almost burn my tongue
flesh tender and yellow
greasy fingers with coconut
oil and sticky lips
but did you really
//
iced kepo
iced kepo is freshly-squeezed
orange juice with just-cracked
coconut water over ice
on a hot
day before the rain
comes
maybe the traffics religion is
theres something superficial
about s-e-x
//
(kepo also means gossip)
//
🌔
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
so having persuaded you
to be hated
by these
they set you down
in a desert (eremia)
of loved ones (philos)
// 232δ
πείσαντες μὲν οὖν ἀπεχθέσθαι σε τούτοις
εἰς ἐρημίαν φίλων καθιστᾶσιν
//
the beloveds embrace (on fitnah)
so having persuaded you
to be hated
by these
they set you down
in a desert
heart
to show the tranquility
of gold
by fire
the cave moment
i find myself re-enacting the moment
i place my hand palm out and fingers spread
as if to touch the limestone interior
then i pretend to take some liquid ochre in my mouth
and purse my lips and pfff — spit it
across the imaginary surface
and as i do i taste the tastelessness of mud
like the hermetic chamber of the cave
becomes a rock-womb for our trembling
then i examine my hand with its fingers spread
for any sign of change
i see that everything has changed
animal ownership
i am in love
with a real animal
she feels strangely familiar
she feels strangely kind
i am drawn
by her steady warmth
by her interior calm
she seems to understand
i am tempted
to bring her home
i want her to be safe
i am afraid she is not safe
i am bound
by animal ownership
my dog is not my dog
she is her own beach dog
//
disproportionate luxury
my three cats are
as kept-healthy housecats
i daily reckon a deep
irresponsibility
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, so far)
about (peri)
my acts (pragmata)
you know (epistamai)
and as i practice (nomizein)
the bringing together (sumpherein)
by us
you have heard (akouein)
these (acts)
having been born (gignomai)
and (it is or i deem it) not worthy (axio)
(that) i lack (deomai) (the worth of) these
miss-happening (a-tuchein)
through this
that i do not happen (ouk tugchanein)
to be being (on)
your lover (erastes)
περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐμῶν πραγμάτων ἐπίστασαι
καὶ ὡς νομίζω συμφέρειν ἡμῖν
γενομένων τούτων ἀκήκοας
ἀξιῶ δὲ μὴ διὰ τοῦτο ἀτυχῆσαι ὧν δέομαι
ὅτι οὐκ ἐραστὴς ὤν σου τυγχάνω