Topped off glass of red wine,
combined with empty stomach:
One tripped out reaction poem.
Why such large glasses for wine?
Sabotage...
Perhaps one more glass, and
it will all start to make sense
hmmm, one more glass...
Will I see through author's eyes?
Will I any longer care?
Hmmm, one more glass...
I really don't want to care
Too red mouth, weeping
Soul shutters; wails into cold of dark
Must take action!
Empty…as is the end of the world,
extinct, grown meaningless.
And void, void, void.
Go further, and you are lost.
Action will be taken!
Darkness has a horrible voice.
No escape; it overwhelms.
Assails you with memory,
Of the murder committed yesterday
Foreknowledge of murder to commit
Action ought to have been taken.
Memories press up an internal cry:
Unheard fish-cry of solitary animal,
overwhelmed by it’s own sea. Muffled.
A face tearing cry; well past danger,
makes hollow face full of fear,
terrifies others. Dreadful silent darkness.
Such action should have been taken.
Mounts like a flood and rushes on,
dark-winged, threatening, like breakers
hisses wickedly, like foam. Release?
We’ve had some action...
Standing at the end of the world,
merciless light, filled with naked grief.
Blackest black of darkness. Cold.
What action? Impossible…
Faces are bleeding, bleeding from mouths.
Hands hold hand-grenades; hand grasps me
Groan; steel helmet falls, an eye breaks
Action has been taken.
Soul exposed; cold hand clutches nakedness.
Stalk away with hollow, echoing steps
Silence behind beyond petrified loneliness
How empty and lifeless the gateway -
Soul shudders, wails into cold of night.
J DeBellis 09/09
Action lines from Heinrich Boll’s Action Will Be Taken – An Action-Packed Story
Remaining lines remixed from Wolfgang Borchert’s Do Stay, Giraffe
Mind Wide Open
Lost in translation are the fragments of this beautiful life.
Years ago, in a land before bottled water and executive lunches, I read "Adam, Where art thou?" and I gleamed in the muddy glory of it all. This is rather a good poem but perhaps a little too esoteric for most readers. but don't let that put you off. Make the words and and the readers will come; like a string of fish they will shoal into schools and follow the breathing word
ReplyDeleteThese words are haunting me. I'm supposed to figure out EXACTLY what they are trying to say and I don't know if I'm even close. I used to think I was good at the decoding, but I am learning I am far from the mark. If I knew the proper exercise for sharpening my brain in this area, I would gladly do the workout. Quite frustrating are these feelings of inadequacy and being out of the loop! Maybe I'm trying too hard...
ReplyDeleteAh, I loved that short story!!!!! It is beautifully expressed in this poem. I think if students read this after reading the story, the story might make more sense! I thought it was great fun until Clark made us realise the actualy significance of it. Then I felt embarrassed. This is great!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes my laughter was loudest when we read the "Take Action" one in class. Clark allowed us our fun and shamed us afterword; which left me stinging from ignorance. This was the beginning of my tumbling into realized smallness...
ReplyDelete