1
Jesus at a wedding
waits for us
monkeys with chains around their legs
surround him
dishes of squabs on table
the strangers come to wash his feet,
tra la they sing
a boy perched at a window
blows a trumpet
cherries & pears along the floor
a single fly
a skull rests at his feet,
a bird over his head
2
A VISION OF THE GODDESS, after cranach
sage & holy
she is sharpening a long stick
while on a swing
a babe sails by
the sky fills up with
warriors on goats & boars
a sleeping dog
a dish of fruit
a castled landscape
3
a man called john,
much like the others,
stands barefoot near a lake
with swans & boats
I turn away from him
& wait,
another year inside my head,
another cycle
then see him, crying
from his cauldron,
sad turks surround him,
warts on their noses
pouring water on his head
4
the priest’s hand underneath
the bishop’s robe
against the rump, the flesh
envelops him & hides
whatever floats around the dancing
twitching jesus
on his altar: heads & hands
tacked onto space
a hand holding a switch
a hand that points
a head propped on a pedestal
a head in mid-air
separated from the crown,
the spear, the rattling dice
under the dancer’s feet
a robe in flames
2.vii.86
[These poems -- ekphrastic in nature -- were recovered, along with numerous others, for a volume of Uncollected Poems to be published in 2010 by Mark Weiss & Junction Press. Additional selections have appeared in earlier postings.]
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