The Smoke & The Sunshine



The musicians have lost their ambition
Mohammad the mover of the mountain
He has gone to find the water mark
However the canal is in flood
With eels being washed up on foreign sand
And the weeds all dry out along the road
The cowboy emperor dies with thunder above him
Unexpected and forgotten
Except by the American Buddhist
And what of the young Wonhyo?
Who still sacrifices to him?
Drinking from skulls to master the thirst of knowledge
Waking and walking from friend and adventure
Marrying the princess and siring Dylan Thomas
The great ritualist of Ireland
He who went mad trying to scrape away gold flake
From the catholic panelling
With the wind in the fist you can punch this language
With the reflection of the last war
You can make the sunshine smoky
And the fresh water pools are heated by nature
Here animals of the great English Songbook drink
No longer searching for ambition
Nor scared of their colleagues or classes
Greek myths pull at my skirts
As I get filthy with the dust of collapsing roofs
Greek lovers pull at my pants
As I get filthy with the water and the bare path
I notice the big man reaching around
The ghost who kisses the perineums of saints
He had found his peace living amongst the cattle
Avoiding the scorpions and wild dogs
Throwing new constellations into the sky's kingdom
And watching for me with his sad, wild, ambitious eyes

Comments

  1. Pier Roberto GiannelliSeptember 5, 2015 at 12:49 PM

    Another challenging poem. I looked up Wonhyo and see how you worked out the allusion. I think that in the past I have probably missed a lot of your meanings. Impressive.

    ReplyDelete

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