[Rochelle Owens remains, as she has been for the preceding half-century, a necessary voice among the growing company of those American & world poets writing & performing at the limits. The work presented here is a follow-up to the first part of “Patterns of Animus” presented earlier on Poems and Poetics, and a harbinger of yet more works to come.
P.S. For an excellent analysis of Part One, check out the review by Susan Smith Nash at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/496573.Susan_Smith_Nash/blog, moving toward the conclusion that “in this fragile world, ‘animus’ – with all its contradictory suggestions – is a requisite condition for the creation of a poetics.” The relevance to Part Two should also be noted. (j.r.)]
The engraver draws
a black line vertical/horizontal
when your eyes move
a latent image
chasms and fissures
in the earth etched into the
metal plate
patterns of animus
subatomic particles
vibrate pulsate zigzag split
vertical/horizontal
long ago an hour ago
only a minute your eyes
move constantly while reading
in sequential order
an amalgam of letters
how tightly the words
hold you through the gaps
of your fingers
Earth Air Fire Water
a flow of hormonal forces
biomorphic geomorphic polymorphic
amorous the greedy seed
the bacterial slime
the Universe contracts
e x p a n d s
*
Inside the kitchen
of the palace corkscrews
of white smoke
five lambs slaughtered
for the feast
work is a binding obligation
blood in blood out
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture war
*
Diverting from a course
of events long ago an hour ago
only a minute
molecular the skin’s mind
moving back and forth
moving back to front vertical/
horizontal
animal soul spiritual hole
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture
*
‘Mother may I go out dancing
yes my darling daughter’
A dead paysanne floats
in the swamp near the palace
in the drizzle and wind
of early morning
biomorphic geomorphic
polymorphic zones of inclusion
exclusion
amorous the greedy seed
spirals of veins pulsate
vertical/horizontal a green lily
emerges from the mud
*
Body of data data
of body lung and liver to my right
heart and spleen to my left
a purple line moves
back and forth moves
front to back precise methodical
vibrating particles
fill the spinal column
cells form cartilage
shape the dome of the skull
a breast vein
as thick as a finger
a hand balled into a fist
vigilant the babe sucking carnal/
spiritual
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture war
*
Archetypal scenes
etched into the metal plate
each successive image
splits vertical/horizontal
every day bears the data
the love of logic the logic of love
a goat smile on your lips
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture war
*
‘Mother must I go on dancing
yes my darling daughter
The butcher sees
the world with his nose the smell
of fat suet and tallow
out of his mouth
protrudes his tongue
hair and nails in the feces sweat
mucus tears urine
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture war
the heavy blade moves
vertical/horizontal moves back
and forth
cutting away rotting parts
the heavy blade
moves back to front hacks off
bulbous deformity
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture war
*
Every dawn each day
good the deboning good
the flaying
blood in blood out
good the curing
good all dirty work carnal/
spiritual
black and hot my coffee
disease famine torture war
*
‘Mother must I go on dancing
yes my darling daughter’
Every dawn each day
the butcher sees the world
with his tongue
‘salt in the stew
salt in the butter’ sings
my giggly daughter
the apple of my eye
her legs collapsing
under her between her thighs
the black rose
the heavy blade moves
vertical/horizontal
moves back and forth front
to back gouges out
the root of love
black and hot my coffee *
disease famine torture war
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