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

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Rochelle Owens: Hermaphropoetics/Ice Water


 
[The fifth installment published in Poems and Poetics of Owens’s work in progress, Hermaphropoetics.]

A master photographer
focusing her lens  
a figure trussed and lying down

A glass of ice water sparkles
and shines under  jagged trees  
blinking in and out

A strange rain
vertical/horizontal   altering perception
a camera flash   an image

A round white tent
a little girl in harem pants
fickle he saunters by

Her elbows winging out   moving
in circles   blowing kisses
his long pale eyelashes

And gazes upwards smiling     
beautiful the face of a child
teasing femme/homme

Her legs collapsing under him
his hands and feet dangling
out of the frame

An asymmetrical form
vertical/horizontal   an impure creation
spiritual/carnal

The physical poetic   the flesh of the apple
beautiful the hermaphrodite
in the concrete space

A white screen   video  
audio recordings   a black vinyl mask
the hermaphrodite peeling almonds

A master photographer
nodding his head   clapping her hands
moving in circles   closer   closer

Molecular the creeping tension
the cheekbones   sharp-edged as a cube
earlobes jingling little bells

The harelip in light and shadow.
smelling   tasting cinnamon   honey
his tongue licking a clot of blood 

Her throat a prolonged
muscular twitch   the throat  of a deaf mute
swallowing colors

Dark blue the smell of his breath
the flavor of her sweat   seawater
a hermaphrodite   captured after the siege

Out of the mists the mists of Cumae
a boy warrior  
his head curiously small

Her shape insectoid from nose to tail
wearing body paint
stripes of black on his cheeks

A pollock-like rhythm
spirals of color   dripping multiple hues
falling drops   splattering purple

Splashing green   lemon   orange
her mouth watering
his tastebuds pulsating

She could feel and taste colors
bulbous and blood-packed his lips
meek sweetness the face

The face of the hermaphrodite
her platinum blonde curls
bringing millions to their knees

A master photographer
altering perception   spiritual/carnal
a camera flash

A beauty queen wearing a thong
a strip of woven lambskin   bare-assed
in the foliage 

His soaring paper thin shoulderblades
out of the center page  
the edge sharp 

A hermaphrodite 
covered with tattoos   a hermaphrodite
emptied of allegory 

Teasing femme/homme
hypermasculine   hyperfeminine
murderous sex cells

A little girl in harem pants
pale and red the folds   the petals
the flower vulva   cut away

Shards   shards of green glass
slashes   slashes of color seeping
veins darkening ruby-red

A flow of hormonal forces
her/his body   basil   sea water
spiritual/carnal
      
                        *                                         
How did the one
the one in the gypsy camp
make up the story?

a hermaphrodite
an impure creation   captured
after the siege

How did the two children
merge together? 
his/her body   carnal/spiritual

an asymetrical form seated
on the stump of a tree 
  
Three said that it was a legend
waxing poetic
a hermaphrodite falling  out of the sky

an altruistic mother’s deathless love
Deathless love saved the babe

See the photos
of a master photographer
focusing her lens

a beauty queen wearing  a thong—
a strip of woven lambskin
Out of his mouth protrudes her tongue

Four bearded elders circling   
circling clockwise

Meek sweetness the face
the face gazing upwards smiling
his lips blowing kisses
her platinum blonde curls
bringing millions to their knees

       
Wedding bells   Wedding cake
a little girl in harem pants
his long pale eyelashes

a boy warrior in a leather skirt
her long toes   stalk-like legs  
fickle he saunters by
       
strands of her hair blowing
the taste of his sweat   seawater
His/her body 
      
more than a daughter  more than a son 
teasing femme/homme
Out of the mists   the mists of Cumae

Wedding bells   Wedding cake
berries and apricots under the veil
joyful the groom lifting the veil

the harelip in light and shadow
a long curved fingernail
circles the cleft

Amorous the greedy seed   amorous
tasting    licking a clot of blood   

Five lambs slaughtered for the feast
vertical/horizontal

teasing femme/homme 
captured after the siege   murderous sex cells         
hypermasculine/hyperfeminine               

a boy warrior in a leather skirt
her cheekbones 
sharp-edged as a cube
a little girl in harem pants 
dangling a charm bracelet made in China

lapis lazuli   silver and rubies
blinking in and out   sunlight/blackness
          
A master photographer
altering perception   a wall of brown dust

Six musicians chanting   drumming
squatting on their heels
Seven  dancers

flexing   contracting hips   rump
thighs   sunlight/blackness
blinking in and out
           
Eight days of feasting
Signs and Wonders   the RUINSCAPE  
disappearing
           
a strange rain   vertical/horizontal
blinking in and out
a glass of ice water sparkles
 
Nine bearded elders circling clockwise
a boy warrior with bright red lips
with pierced nipples  
            
Ten war lords circling clockwise   
a little girl in harem pants
A camera flash   
               
circling clockwise
an asymmetrical form seated
on the stump of a tree

1 comment:

Thomas Olivera said...

wow! I could really feel it...great!