To the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.
St Paul, I Cor 1:23
Like an antelope hurtling into the noose
a bird
fluttering into the net
he knows
and does not know
Tight skin on bones like struts
I would sound in the wind
were there any wind
Both cheeks I turned long long ago
Have turned my all
Six things Wisdom abhors
seven She turns her shoulder upon:
night and muse-ic
wine and waste
a lying tongue
(unless the business be respectable)
a loser, a bum
It whirls -
so apart out here, the whole
spins round me
Two things Prudence assures,
three She promises those who abide with her:
long life, prosperity
and sons to comfort her in your old age
I and an eye in the sky
like a sheep at a wedding
I, prodded to the slaughter
look up
Two things You cannot abide,
three You turn your lovely back upon:
wealth and pride
and a poet who thinks he's won
The whole night
whirls
The fool says in his heart
there is a God
Come the jab
tight throat
slash-of-the-knife
The eye stood over the man in the yard in Sumer
The eye will stand over a planet called Paradise
Saw Dumuzi die
among the bins and bones and roses
while within
Inanna cast aside the seven veils
And no rains came
Saw
the drunken singer on his cross
And no rains came
Will see
on Paradise
a dancing Eve
a drunken Adam
I caught between the walls
cry out, cry out between the stars
A broken and a contrite heart
oh, lady, thou wilt, God knows thou wilt -
the flies
don't bother me now
my thighs
are black with them
my eyes
blink like an old horse's
thighs
like an old saint's
eyes
that only God would not despise
