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, December 7, 2017

Rochelle Owens: From “Solarpoetics,” (concluded) 16-26

                                                        [The following is the conclusion of Rochelle Owens’ major new alphabetic work, earlier sections of which have appeared previously in Poems and Poetics.]

16
Reading a word does not depend on the number
of letters it contains

*

The letter P  periodic  orbital 
biological compulsion 
like taste and thirst
and in your

Mammalian brain 

Lovely the pastoral scene
a graphic design 
green the volcanic hills 
the story

Of the shepherdess

In elaborate lettering
heat  cold  wind  water
a flow of menstrual
blood

17
The stereotype of a lone researcher
in a secluded lab--a science fiction trope
 
*

The letter Q  a quartet
in three dimensional space
the butcher  baker  shepherdess 
a solitary workwoman 

Ravenous her lidless eye

Counting letters  spelling
m e l l i f e r o u s  the animal flesh 
the flow of hormonal
forces

Blood in  blood out

From A to Z  a set of skills 
body of data  data
of body  gut  head  tail 
o b l i t e r a t e d

                         18
An experiment designed to control the brain 
--movements of limbs with colored lights

*

                        The letter R  under a red
violet light  an unknown figure
crouches over the earth

Where the air smells of poisoned rain

An unknown figure digs rows
of small holes  the temperature
of human skin  folds
in the ground 

The root of love  

Blood in  blood out
folds in the ground from front
to back from back to
front

19
 Electrical pokes regulate balance  direction
 currents moving neuron to neuron

*

The letter S  serpentine
the organ of sight  a pair of spherical
bodies in an orbit of the skull 
the eyes 

Nomads  wanderers
 
Take one step after
the other  here where you walk 
bones push to the
surface

A snarl of fibrous hairs drifting

In circles  chasms and fissures
in the earth   holes  gaps in a sequence
of events  laid down and eroded
away
   
                         20
Begin with a few humble ingredients  rice flour 
fruit and flowers

*

The letter T  near a tank
with a spigot stands the baker
collecting words  batter 
crumbs

Black mold  burnt rolls

Dead white the bakers lips
on his tongue a metallic
taste  more water
in the loaf 

Less flour used 

The story of the baker
A set of skills in sequential order
from A to Z    O wicked
world
   
                         21
All words may be reproduced  stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means
 
*

                        The letter U  numberless 
tree stumps mark a sequence
of events  rows of
holes

Absence of a picture

A story of the solitary
workwoman long ago  an hour ago
only a minute  strolling in
autumnal leaves

Drifting in circles

And in your mammalian brain 
lovely the pastoral scene 
grain  grape  bread 
wine

                         22
Colors  forms  movement  all together an astonishing
neurological image

*

The letter V  gouged
into a stone floor  blood pushing
to the surface  zones of
inclusion  exclusion

Here where archeologists

Observe dimensions  between
victim and executioner  a gap  a fissure 
a hole that engulfs and
consumes  

Here where historians

Pouring coffee  organize
body of data  data of body  piles
of charred human and animal 
bones

23
Evolution is smart  clean  clear and simple
hungry or thirsty  eat  or drink

*

The letter W  when your
eyes move  the reading brain   
the act of reading  how tightly
the letters hold you

Wind  heat  cold  drought

Hot  exuberant  the butcher’s
pleasure  cutting  deboning  grinding
salt for the stew  salt
for the bread

Sings the poet maudite

From point A to Z  a set of skills
in sequential order  blood
and mud  chemical
molecular 

24
With sophisticated equipment scientists scrutinize
minutiae  gathering information

*

The letter X 
marks an unknown figure
behind an electric
fence

Patterns of animus

A skeletal frame
crouches over the earth
fingers spreading apart across
t h e  r u i n s c a p e 

Hidden among geometric forms 
                         a single bloodstained feather 
long ago  an hour ago 
only a minute

25
The two cortex regions operate independently
of each other  independent yet intertwined

*

The letter Y  yellow 
sulfurous  a plume of smoke 
work is a binding
obligation 

Looking to earn extra cash

Take one step after
the other  under an occult sky 
the hand of the butcher
lops off

Diseased parts   

Slapping flying insects  insects
far and near  hair and nails in the feces 
vulnerable flesh-eater  spiritual
carnivore

26
Ever-pinging networks  twenty-six letters of the alphabet 
asterik to zero hour

*

The letter Z  a sound
of a buzz saw  strange scars
on the sea bed  patterns
of animus

Written words lit up 

Hidden zigzags 
burned  buried  premonitions 
take one step after
the other 

Out of the hole of Baudelaire

When I in my youth
strolled in a blue wool dress
I strolled in a circle
of blue                                                                

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