[note. The text that follows is a further
installment from Bloomberg-Rissman’s epic assemblage, Zeitgeist Spam, a work constructed (almost) entirely, he tells us, from words or sounds
appropriated from other writers. In the
present instance the over-all source is Barbaric
Vast & Wild: An Assemblage of Outside & Subterranean Poetry from
Origins to Present, which he & I have recently completed as Poems for the Millennium, volume 5, for
publication later this year by Black Widow Press. The subsection of Zeitgeist Spam, “In the House of the Hangman,” itself in multiple
installments, derives its title from an essay by Theodor Adorno: “In the house of
the hangman one should
not mention the noose; one
might be suspected of harboring resentment.”]
But it is the mystery that taunts us most: what brought them
into that darkness, that becomes long, deep; it widens, extends, narrows. It is
a constricted place, a narrowed place, one of the hollowed-out places. It forms
hollowed-out places. There are roughened places; there are asperous places. The
sky is overcast, the stars are darkened, the celestial expanses quiver, the
bones of the earth-gods tremble, his ḥmwst are under his feet, his uraei are on
the crown of his head, / Efficient for burning (?); / Who eats their entrails
(?), / Even of those who come with their bodies full of magic. Then Saul told
his servants
find me a woman who can
speak with ghosts that I can go to can make her sound her shaman bag can speak
through her his servants said
well
yes there is a woman mistress of the
shaman bag at Endor [scream] what [scream] how [scream] what in the
world is this [scream] strange new [scream]. And I looked, and, behold, a
whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself,
and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of
amber, out of the midst of the fire. And the likeness of the firmament upon the
heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal,
stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their meshugga
wings,
take constant notice of the
clarity of things, ZEUS (a white flickering) /
life-breathing HERA /
And I will tell you this: There is no self-nature in anything mortal nor any finality in death’s
deconstruction /
There is
only the
merging, change and exchange / Press these things into the pit of your stomach. I
came down from my mountain hut into the streets one day to beg food. I stopped
where a leper was feeding himself. With his rotted leper’s hand into my bowl he
threw a scrap into my bowl as he threw it one of his fingers broke and also
fell I simply leaned against a wall and ate I tell you the world is blazing,
blazing / the whole world’s in flames / I tell you it’s flared up / the world
is shaken / your worlds are shaken / the whole world’s ablaze & the odds
have never been easy. An nou there kythed an unco ferlie in heiven – a wuman
cleadit i the sun, an the muin
wis aneth her
feet, an on her heid
wis
a croun o twal stairns. She
wis
boukit, an skirlt out wi the sair pyne o her birth-thraws. Than anither ferlie
kythed in heiven – a muckle reid draigon, at hed seiven heids an ten horns, an
on ilka heid a croun. His tail soopit a third o the stairns frae the lift an
cuist them doun on the yird. The Draigon stood fornenst the Wuman at
wis about ae bring
furth
a bairn, ettlin tae wirrie the bairn, whaniver she buir it. She brocht
furth a man-bairn, at is
weirdit tae hird the nations wi an airn wand; Judas said to Jesus, “Does the
human spirit die?” Jesus said, “This is why God ordered Michael to give the
spirits of people to them as a loan, so that they might offer service, but the
Great One ordered Gabriel to grant spirits to the great generation with no
ruler over it — that is, the spirit and the soul. Therefore, the [rest] of the
souls [— one line missing —].” “[…] light [— nearly two lines missing —] around
[…] let […] Then they will fornicate in my name and slay their children and
they will […] and [— about six and a half lines missing —] my name, and he will
[…] your star over the [thir]teenth aeon.” After that Jesus [laughed]. “Truly
[…] your last […] become [— about two and a half lines missing —], grieve [— about
two lines missing —] the ruler, since he will be destroyed. For you are
knowledge and ignorance. You are shameless; you are ashamed. You are senseless
and you are wise. Which is what happened: Tarafah shed his life as a punctured
goatskin sheds its wine. Hoooh! Dierra, Agada, Ganna, Silla! Hoooh! Fasa! They
cast themselves in multitudes, like a ram’s fleece upon the ridges of the
Boyne.” This is the sense but not the order of the words
as he sang them in his sleep. The day I was to depart, I had a bad headache. I
called a doctor, but he couldn’t cure me. Then I met a Buddhist Master named
Feng-kan. He smiled and said, O my secret’s secret, you have dwindled so much
you’re hidden from the thought of the living, and yet a hidden-manifest of you
has appeared in all things for all things. After this I saw a very large, round
and shady object. It was like an egg, with the top part narrower, the middle
part fuller, and the lower part compressed. On the outer edge of this circular
object, there was a bright flame which had a darker layer under it. Inside of
the fire and the darker layer was a globe of reddish fire which was so great
that it lit up the entire inside of the circular object. Above the globe which
was inside the circular object, there were three torches which in turn were inside
of the fire that was on the outer edge of the circular object. The fourth Wheel
is the Chrystaline Pure Corporiety. But there was more: they made me one of
them, I sixth among that wisdom company. So we went on as far as the
semi-circle light in conversation proper to the place and which now to leave
unreported is beautiful.
Humans are
indeed frightful beings. A large penis is the mark of an idiot. And then
the Lama continued: Seek the bird’s, the fish’s path. Lord! A fire is raging
without fuel. When the pot falls apart, what do you call it? Numskull! You’ve
missed the point.
“Language is Delphi.” Mine ears are filled brimful with cries
of poor prisoners, Newgate, Ludgate cries (of late) are seldom out of mine
ears. Those doleful cries,
Bread,
bread, bread for the Lord’s sake, pierce mine ears and heart, I can no
longer forbear. Wherefore hie you apace to all prisons in the kingdom. Bow
before those poor, nasty, lousy, ragged wretches, say to them, your humble
servants, sirs (without a compliment), we let you go free and serve you,
&c. Do this or (as I live, saith the Lord) thine eyes (at least) shall be
bored out, and thou carried captive into a strange land. Loose the bonds of
wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke.
Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out (both of
houses and synagogues) to thy house. Cover the naked: hide not thyself from
thine own flesh, from a cripple, a rogue, a beggar, he’s thine own flesh. From
a whoremonger, a thief, &c., he’s flesh of thy flesh, and his flesh and
whoredom is flesh of thy flesh also, thine own flesh. Thou mayest have ten
times more of each within thee than he that acts outwardly in either. Remember,
turn not away thine eyes from thine OWN FLESH. I had a golden ring on my hand,
and I dropped that ring onto a mirror, which broke into small pieces, Having
turned that mirror onto the other side, I found shining glass there also, and
likewise a bracelet fell from my hands and broke the other side. In a dream I
saw a very old woman, 1500 years old. Her hair was white as snow; she brought
me 2 silver belts and a Walachian sausage. We have been dead several thousand
years and we have worked a lot, and still we have no peace. We ask you, Send
us. We will go on your mission wholeheartedly. I answered them, I have already
said that I will make revelation to no man, nor bring any near, nor will I send
any on a mission. They asked me, But the signal has already gone out that a
great deal of blood will flow in the world, and we want to go and rescue many;
only you bless us for the way. I am a prostak, I replied, and cannot make a
blessing. They asked me, But you bless your people? I replied, I can say no
more than this word: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and this verse: The angel who
delivered me & & ... They said to me, We have a book here in which
stand blessings. Bless us with that book; we only ask you that you bless us out
loud. They gave me the book which was written in large Hebrew letters without
dots. They bent their heads and I, after raising my hands above their heads,
blessed them. There were beautiful words there, but I do not remember more than
two words that were at the end: “One Lord, one and only Four Lord, Sky Lord
would have been in chaos, Sky Lord would have been dark when you were born. Who
are you, owner of chaos? Who are you, owner of night? You are in chaos, Great
Lord of Days, the eye of the sun was plucked out when you were born.” But in
the summer I was with the herd and fell asleep in front of the herd. Two came
on reindeer, the bedding of their sledges worn from traveling so long. The
hooves of the deer were ground down from galloping. I looked at them and my
mind got confused, my body weakened and became like water. I was turned from a
strong one into a weak one, fond of sleep, hardly walking in daylight. Poor
Tom; that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, / the wall-newt and
the water; that in the fury of his heart, when / the foul fiend rages, eats
cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old / rat and the ditch-dog; drinks the
green mantle of the standing / pool; who is whipped from tithing to tithing,
and stock- punished, / and imprisoned; who hath had three suits to his back,
six shirts / to his body, horse to ride, and weapon to wear; / But mice and
rats, and such small deer, / Have been Tom’s food for seven long year. For the
doubling of flowers is the improvement of the
gardner’s talent. For there is no Height in
which there are not flowers. For flowers have great virtues for all the senses.
For the warp and woof of flowers are worked by perpetual moving spirits. For
flowers are good both for the living and the dead. For there is a language of
flowers. For there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers. For elegant phrases
are nothing but flowers. For flowers are musical in ocular harmony. And I felt
strength enough in me, as though I could crush the world to atoms. I walked up
and down the room, and shook the whole house; for I was not myself. I could not
stop my fury; words flew too fast to utter against the power of darkness: and I
felt in myself power, that I thought, if he was present, that I could tear him
to pieces; and should not have feared, had there been ten thousand men and
devils before me. So I remain’d with him, sitting in the twisted root of an
oak; he was suspended in a fungus, which hung with the head downward into the
deep. By degrees we beheld the infinite Abyss, fiery as the smoke of a burning
city; beneath us at an immense distance, was the sun, black but shining; round
it were fiery tracks on which revolv’d vast spiders, crawling after their prey;
which flew, or rather swum, in the infinite deep, in the most terrific shapes
of animals sprung from corruption; & the air was full of them, & seem’d
composed of them: these are Devils, and are called Powers of the air. I now
asked my companion which was my eternal lot? he said, ‘between the black &
white spiders.’ (THE SNAKE.) See on the ground, / and motes of dust / With the
blooming / And deep shadows (of) the woods, and it rises / By the figtree
/
(
)
(From) To the rooftops the
smoke, (at) near the ancient crown / Achilles died to me / Signifying wherever
it lie, (glea) / (gleams) /
Not all
the Snows could make it white – /
Not all the Summers –
Green
–
/ You’ve seen the Color –
maybe – /
It is a mere prejudice that I am a human being.
Yet I have often enough dwelled among human beings and I know the things human
beings experience, from the lowest to the highest. Among the Hindus I was
Buddha, in Greece Dionysus –
Alexander and Caesar were incarnations of me, as well as the poet of
Shakespeare, Lord Bacon. Most recently I was Voltaire and Napoleon, perhaps
also Richard Wagner. … However, I now come as Dionysus victorious, who will
prepare a great festival on Earth. … Not as though I had much time. … Ah!
The rotting rags; the bread soaked with rain, the drunkenness – Sometimes I see
limitless beaches in the sky covered by white nations full of joy. A great
golden vessel, above me, waves its multicolored flags in the morning breeze.
I’ve created all the feasts, all the triumphs, all the dramas. I’ve tried to
invent new flowers; new stars, new flesh, new languages. I believed I’d gained
supernatural powers. Ah well! I must bury my imagination and my memories! Sweet
glory as an artist and story-teller swept away! Well, I shall ask forgiveness
for nourishing myself with lies. Let’s go. G’ganggali ging g’gang, g’gung g’gung!
Giigara-Lina Wiiy Rosina. G’ganggali ging g’gang, g’gung g’gung!
Then the God Orpheus, the greatest and most powerful
of the Spirits, said, Let there be a Star on which we might all find a shelter
and an asylum and, as he ordained it, so it was. A planeet named Eearth: a
Desert, formless and void: and so far as they could see it was dark: And all
the Spirits moved over the water. And then, they arrived on firm ground. Then, God Orpheus said, Let there be light:
and there was light. Far above them, a
splendid sun sent out its glowing rays vertically down to the earth to them:
And before several hours had passed, this last, on a second divine and
All-Powerful Word, descended on the horizon and, a gigantic number of brightly
shining Staars, brilliant and scintillating, along with the Moon, comets and
shadows, stood, or circled around on the blue firmament. And, again on a
majestic and All-Powerful Word of the Last, The southern half of all the
gigantic and majjestic Creation is my … property.
Not only the millions and billions of
stars.
No!!
500 myriads and one star. … I have traveled
through all of them in the year 1868.
And now, appalling Ca-tas-tro-phe before God the Holy-Spirit, I am
swinging on the hideous rope of the gallows, in cell number 3 of the 5th wing
of men. The living Lantern of Ouchy Opera / Cleopatra weds in a palanquin /
Fountainebleau / The Quirinal mermaid / The pink pearl of India / Sketch of
bank-note / The flowery earth and its work by / The great Victoria saves the
rich exiles in Switzerland / Printers of bank-notes / Kaiser Wilhelm II’s love
story / The extreme point of mysticism, / I hold it now in the real and in my
body, / like a toilet broom. / For me, living man, I am a city besieged by the
army of the dead, / Take that, take that, / you didn’t get me out of there yet,
/ I’m always there no matter what you try to do, / you haven’t defeated me and
I have that: / caca, the cream of your … / it is me who gobbles up the cake you
made crumb by crumb, / hmm hmm hmm / hmm hmm hmm / hmm hmm hmm / hmm hmm hmm /
hmm hmm hmm / so so so si / hmm hmm hmm / hmm hmm hmm / Cayetano García / [
He answers “Yes …” She says, “Isn’t that
how?” He responds: “Yes, that's it.” She says: “Isn’t that it? Like this.
Listen.”] / so so so / so so so / so so so / [“
That’s it. Work, work,” exclaims the man.] / hmm hmm hmm / hmm
hmm hmm / so so so / hmm hmm hmm / so so so / so so so / si si si / si si si /
si si si / so sa sa / si si si / so sa sa sa / hmm hmm hmm / hmm hmm hmm / hmm
hmm hmm.
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