Crystallography
— for Miroslav Holub
You end up in a cute little town
that ends up having its water poisoned.
Fish are the first to betray the intruder.
Mercury rising. Octacarbon will follow your cattle
to their quick peace. Nothing will stick
to the frying pan. Elections roll around and you vote
for those who hurt you with indifference,
for they know not what the impersonal do.
After the sword, the pen.
After the pen, the camera.
After metal, water, and after that, glass,
minerals for mirrors.
There’s resistance on the ground.
The beast is more bath water
than baby. You’re not alone.
The beast breeds, we breed.
The cows have blocked our trail up the volcano.
There was a time when we could love
them for the treasures they are.
Now we can track a fish in water.
After water, the eye
that could steal a piece of your soul.
After the soul
washed up on the shore, no more unicorn.
Yes unicorn. Yes phoenix
that looks like a pheasant.
* * * * *
In the Garden
— for Golan Haji
I tried hope, you were hell.
At the gates of hell, I tried to be a child,
you ate my heart.
I tried to be a mother, you were unborn.
I tried your hand, you fell on my head.
Loss petrified our embrace.
Loss, our minds, our gains.
I tried to be body and you organ,
to be genie and you genus,
I tried to be sacrifice and you let me.
You wanted to watch.
I wanted to watch you watch.
I tried to be time, you were massacre.
I tried to reach you in time
but time said it can barely reach itself.
I tried the angel with no arms.
You were the call to arms.
What did you do with my arms?
I tried to be the foot that pushed you
off the edge, you were a cliff.
I tried sleep, you were water.
I tried dream, you were bladder.
You were what I saw and remembered,
what I saw and did not know that I saw.
You drank a sea,
I wailed, you whaled,
I charmed statues, you sculpted air,
then clapping came
from legends in the room
to other legends in it.