[The
third & concluding section of Owens’s major opus]
Evolution is smart
clean clear and simple gaps
in
the sequence of
events
laid down and eroded away
hungry
or thirsty
eat
or drink body of data
data
of body
audible
inaudible
the
rhythm the rhythm of
spontaneous
change
letters
spell out
o
b l i t e r a t e
a
jaw opens and closes
carnal/spiritual
vigilant
the babe sucking
*
On
a giant computer
screen vibrating subatomic
particles
shape
the
contours of a skull
and
in your
mammalian
brain tendons
and
nerves pulsate
craving licking
burning
chunks rupturing flesh
cinnamon cumin and honey
five
lambs
slaughtered
for the feast
carnal/spiritual 2
*
Under
an occult sky
of
greens and yellows the tattoo
artist
bites into an apple
chewing
and swallowing
moisture
and nutrients flow in
the
tattoo artist’s brain
seized
with jittery energy
chewing
and swallowing
inhaling
exhaling a layer of skin
the
skin
a
montage of bite marks
chewing
and swallowing
inhaling
exhaling the breath blowing
kisses
along the digestive tract
spirals
of veins
pulsate
from mouth to rectum
blood
in blood out
seized
with jittery energy
chewing
and swallowing
inhaling
exhaling drawing zigzags
of
black lines
a
layer of skin the skin
the
canvas absorbing sunlight
inhaling exhaling
drawing
zigzags
of
black lines drawing a fetal skull
sprouting
tooth buds
the
universe
contains
everything that exists
letters
that spell out
3
r
u i n s c a p e
*
After
waking
and
lying down trust your
instinctual
senses
disturbingly
informative
tears mucus
albumen a goat smile
on
your lips
*
Long
ago
an
hour ago only a minute
in
the here and now
in
the zone
diverging
from a course
of
events
spirals
of wind and fire
layers
of brown dust
*
Out
of an ant hill
curved
like an embrace
a
waft of air
and
morning
to
evening and evening
to
morning
audible inaudible
an
unknown word letters
that
spell out
A
m f a t t e h r
*
4
The
bones that form
the
Aardvark Venus rays of light
penetrate
your fingers
drawing
black lines
spirals
of muscles blood vessels
a
long cylindrical tongue
biomorphic geomorphic
polymorphic corkscrews of white
smoke
slashes slashes of solar light
*
Long
ago an hour ago
only
a minute a black line
shapes
itself
an
image on a rock
subatomic
particles pulsate
the
universe contracts
e
x p a n d s
*
The
warmest of mothers
moves
in circles massive her claws
digging searching
body
of data data
of
body the Aardvark Venus
her
rabbitlike ears
heating
to the
temperature
of human skin
a
long cylindrical tongue
work
is a binding obligation
blood
in blood out
her
breast vein as thick as a finger
mounds
of sand appear
disappear
lines
of ants appear disappear
a
hissing sound
suffer
the Aardvark children
*
Listening
to Willie Nelson
you
witness a lovely desert sunset
a
goat smile on your lips
mounds
of sand appear
disappear
and morning to evening
evening
to morning
9
breakfasts 5 lunches 6 dinners
white
the summer blossoms
a
girl in your arms hungry or thirsty
eat
and drink
*
On
the wall of a cave
in
the Sahara in a zone diverging
from
a course of events
disease famine
torture war
in
a sacred refuge or a tomb
Behold! the Aardvark Venus
luminous
the overlapping
charcoal
drawings charcoal fed
with
wind and fire
charcoal
fed with blood and sunlight
*
Earth Air
Fire Water
hormonal
forces evoke
the
rhythm of spontaneous change 6
inhaling exhaling
moisture
and nutrients
flow
through your mammalian brain
inhaling exhaling
the
universe contracts e x p a n d s
seized
with jittery energy
inhaling exhaling
flexing contracting
evoking
the
rhythm
the
rhythm of spontaneous change
disease famine
torture war
rays
of light
penetrate
your vulva scrotum
sphincter
illuminate
your heart
your
hand cupping the little god
mounds
of sand appear
disappear
out
of an ant hill curved
like
an embrace
Earth Air
Fire Water
[author’s comment: “To look at the image of an Aardvark is to take a
cosmic Rorschach test, and like a cubist mural is both a microcosm and
macrocosm. You understand
Intuitively – a Cartesian resolution of body and spirit. The poem presented here is the third of a series of poems titled ‘Beloved the Aardvark,’ related I suppose to the poem ‘Devour Not the Elephant’ that appeared earlier in Poems and Poetics.” (Rochelle Owens).
Intuitively – a Cartesian resolution of body and spirit. The poem presented here is the third of a series of poems titled ‘Beloved the Aardvark,’ related I suppose to the poem ‘Devour Not the Elephant’ that appeared earlier in Poems and Poetics.” (Rochelle Owens).
And Marjorie Perloff on the unique power
& pitch of Owens’ exploratory work, from the 1960s to the present: ‘Rochelle Owens’ writing ... is sui generis. She is, in many
ways, a proto-language poet, her marked ellipses, syntactic oddities, and dense
and clashing verbal surfaces recalling the long poems of Bruce Andrews and Ron
Silliman. But Owens is angrier, more energetic, and more assertive than most of
her Language counterparts, male and female, and she presents herself as
curiously non-introspective.”
Part One of Beloved the Aardvark can
be found here on Poems and Poetics, and Part Two can be found here.]
No comments:
Post a Comment