Thursday 8 August 2013

poem for a giddying, otherworldly landscape

from diamonds to unswept halls of parallels
          what I see isn’t what I saw
          what I saw isn’t what I see –
no ocean or mountain midnight particles
     tell of what I will beyond the now
     tell of what I did before the then –

bronchial seaweed sweeps across the rocky
          sub-littoral, spherules all burst
          sub-littoral, spherules all flayed
like bells the fogbound sunrise casts its motes
     pealing luminescent crimson waves
     pealing luminescent crimson curls

above, upon, within the only never-never
          horizon’s tail, body, heads, mouth
          horizon’s tail, body, heads, gulf
salt and fresh – stalagmite and stalactite
     in an ancient cave of cross-currents
     in an ancient creature’s overbite –

in near-freezing rock pools hang the networks
          conical tendrils, interstellar beings
          conical tendrils striated by ripples
crash-landing, slow decay, suspended to serve
      as home to peppercorn sea snails
      as home to mineral-blackened shrimp

from parallels to unswept halls of diamonds
          weeds to dream physiognomy
          weeds to dream physiognomy
no mountain or ocean midnight particles
     tell of what I’ll see beyond the now

     tell of what I saw before the then.

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