To begin ...

As the twentieth century fades out
the nineteenth begins
.......................................again
it is as if nothing happened
though those who lived it thought
that everything was happening
enough to name a world for & a time
to hold it in your hand
unlimited.......the last delusion
like the perfect mask of death

Friday, April 19, 2013

Rochelle Owens: Hermaphropoetics/Amorous, for Clayton Eshleman


hermaphrodite flower

Unnatural
the opaque energy
tearing the cornea
the eyes
leaking blood

blood
of the hermaphrodite
carnal/spiritual

A boy with bright red lips
captured after the siege

her long pale eyelashes

teasing femme/homme
a warhol-like playfulness
her/his body

A girl warrior with pierced nipples
fickle he saunters by

teasing femme/homme
emerging from the mists the mists
of Cumae

an impure creation

Meek sweetness the face the face
of the hermaphrodite
his platinum blond curls

bringing millions to their knees

Her/His body
a warhol-like playfulness

horizontal/vertical
carnal/spiritual

inside a dark purple fruit
the core divi/ded
the physical poetic

a flow of hormonal forces
the mother misery   the father terror

amorous the greedy seed amorous

A hibiscus blooming on the vine
a mango rotting
its core split/ting

amorous the greedy seed amorous

His/Her body
tasting of basil   saltwater    
the mother misery   the father terror
a slit in the stalk
blood seeping

Playful the unborn babe
in its amniotic sac

green and pale the scrotal lily

mauve and pale the butterfly vulva
floating on silkscreen

sorcery of his female brain
Her/His body
horizontal/vertical

the dome of her skull
his fat ankles   her perfect toes
his earlobes   the angle of her nose

his long pale eyelashes
her breath blowing kisses

his mouth   her tongue
vigilant the babe sucking

a fringe of milk   blood   drool
circles the nipple

teasing femme/homme
emerging from the mists the mists
of Cumae

Meek sweetness the face the face
of the hermaphrodite
his platinum blond curls

bringing millions to their knees

[An earlier excerpt from Hermaphropoetics appeared here on  February 22, 2013.]               

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