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Safety

“It’s your body's’ way of protecting you.” I was told as I felt the singeing handprint of my mother burn into my thigh. It’s my body’s way of protecting me. I remind myself as I feel his hands all over me in the middle of the night when i can only think about the yellow street light that filtered in and cascaded over his large frame like water pouring unexpectedly from the sky. “It’s my body’s way of protecting me.” I explain to the one person who can touch me without making my skin crawl. “Please protect me too.”

~Momentary Lapse of Reason~

I am drowning in my pain Spinning faster and faster I closed my eyes to escape From my momentary lapse of reason In my grave reality of my demise But there is nowhere to hide In a world of complete emptiness I am going under faster and faster Feeling nothing but helplessness And everything was still Just as hope seemed to have faded There was shelter in the distance That shelter was you and I felt warm And everything was still Even from the depths of my mind I knew I was trapped frozen in time I was calling out from my dark despair And only music fell from my bloody lips And e

Travels With John Hunter

We who travel between worlds
lose our muscle and bone.
I was wheeling a barrow of earth
when agony bayoneted me.

I could not sit, or lie down,
or stand, in Casualty.
Stomach-calming clay caked my lips,
I turned yellow as the moon

and slid inside a CAT-scan wheel
in a hospital where I met no one
so much was my liver now my dire
preoccupation. I was sped down a road.

of treetops and fishing-rod lightpoles
towards the three persons of God
and the three persons of John Hunter

The Wish

I shed my tears; my tears – my consolation;
And I am silent; my murmur is dead,
My soul, sunk in a depression’s shade,
Hides in its depths the bitter exultation.
I don’t deplore my passing dream of life --
Vanish in dark, the empty apparition!
I care only for my love’s infliction,
And let me die, but only die in love!

The Prayer of the Lamb

Gentle Shepherd, hold this weak and wandering lamb
Within the shelter of Your arms, I pray,
For I have lost my way. I tremble here in fear of this accelerating downward spiral
Into darkness and despair.
Oblivion is there. Again the black beast of depression prowls, panting and my door...
In my distress and hopelessness I seek You, as before,
For only Your compassion can sustain me now. Once more This lamb has gone astray
And so I pray....oh, how I pray!
Gentle Shepherd, take me now and lead my way.

The Monster of Mr Cogito

1

Lucky Saint George
from his knight's saddle
could exactly evaluate
the strength and movements of the dragon

the first principle of strategy
is to assess the enemy accurately

Mr Cogito
is in a worse position
he sits in the low
saddle of a valley
covered with thick fog

through fog it is impossible to perceive
fiery eyes
greedy claws
jaws

through fog
one sees only
the shimmering of nothingness

the monster of Mr Cogito
has no measurements

Pantoum Of The Great Depression

Our lives avoided tragedy
Simply by going on and on,
Without end and with little apparent meaning.
Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.

Simply by going on and on
We managed. No need for the heroic.
Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.
I don't remember all the particulars.

We managed. No need for the heroic.
There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows.
I don't remember all the particulars.
Across the fence, the neighbors were our chorus.

There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows

On The Meeting Of Garca Lorca And Hart Crane

Brooklyn, 1929. Of course Crane's
been drinking and has no idea who
this curious Andalusian is, unable
even to speak the language of poetry.
The young man who brought them
together knows both Spanish and English,
but he has a headache from jumping
back and forth from one language
to another. For a moment's relief
he goes to the window to look
down on the East River, darkening
below as the early light comes on.
Something flashes across his sight,
a double vision of such horror
he has to slap both his hands across

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