Part IV
Democracy
restored,
being what it now was,
reopened dialog between us,
our mutual topic being
should we leave Baby
where she was
or do something with her.
Rest her once more
upon the current
and let it do what
it would have done
if it had not abandoned her?
being what it now was,
reopened dialog between us,
our mutual topic being
should we leave Baby
where she was
or do something with her.
Rest her once more
upon the current
and let it do what
it would have done
if it had not abandoned her?
We flipped a
coin;
it was my lot to pick her up
(Neither of us wanted to.)
which involved touching her.
There she lay - the slut,
abortion, Kewpie doll,
Pretty Boy’s Baby,
primarily a douchy pink
with some wilting whites
and greenish browns
within her faded color scheme
and also nipple lips
forever mouthing
an unmeant hello,
becoming ‘goodbye’
when I tossed her in the drink
without ceremony.
it was my lot to pick her up
(Neither of us wanted to.)
which involved touching her.
There she lay - the slut,
abortion, Kewpie doll,
Pretty Boy’s Baby,
primarily a douchy pink
with some wilting whites
and greenish browns
within her faded color scheme
and also nipple lips
forever mouthing
an unmeant hello,
becoming ‘goodbye’
when I tossed her in the drink
without ceremony.
We held hands
crossing back,
bare feet evolving passage:
mud unto sand
unto rock and soil,
briars and brambles.
She got her pants wet
up to her knees,
pouted them dry.
We’d had one miracle -
making love;
why not attempt another:
Let’s be silly,
though unsaid aloud.
Let’s follow it, our Kewpie,
as far as we are able
and see where she might go.
bare feet evolving passage:
mud unto sand
unto rock and soil,
briars and brambles.
She got her pants wet
up to her knees,
pouted them dry.
We’d had one miracle -
making love;
why not attempt another:
Let’s be silly,
though unsaid aloud.
Let’s follow it, our Kewpie,
as far as we are able
and see where she might go.
Starting out,
it floated
faster than we could walk;
our pace increased until we knew
we had serious catching up to do.
It’s not good to come in second
in a race against yourself.
She was becoming smaller
as the distance grew between us.
faster than we could walk;
our pace increased until we knew
we had serious catching up to do.
It’s not good to come in second
in a race against yourself.
She was becoming smaller
as the distance grew between us.
I would
remember seeing her;
I could see her yet.
My wife had fallen back to rest.
Alone now, I was here;
the doll was there:
a wonderment
that shakes philosophy.
She exists for sure
as long as I can see her.
I could see her yet.
My wife had fallen back to rest.
Alone now, I was here;
the doll was there:
a wonderment
that shakes philosophy.
She exists for sure
as long as I can see her.
Drowning
darling baby face
could sink a thousand toy ships,
tour the underwater world
in dunks and dips
and see none of it
through blank plastic eyes,
a plastic meant to last.
could sink a thousand toy ships,
tour the underwater world
in dunks and dips
and see none of it
through blank plastic eyes,
a plastic meant to last.
Helene (usually designated as “Helen of Troy”) was regarded by the Greeks as the most beautiful woman in the world. She was so beautiful that prince Paris of Troy (Ilium) abducted her from her husband, whose brother then led the Greek war against the Trojans in response. The legend of her beauty survived through the centuries; in “The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus” (variously dated between 1590 and 1604), Christopher Marlowe described an ambitious man who sought to gain power through necromancy (communing with dead spirits); one of the spirits he raised was Helene, but became her slave and lover and thus was forever damned.
ReplyDeleteWas this the face that launch'd a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
In the poem” Hero and Leander”(published in 1598) Marlowe was similarly ecstatic about the hero Leander: "in his looks were all that men desire." When Leander tried to swim to Sestos to be with his lover, Neptune "embrac'd him, call'd him love... He watched his arms and, as they opened wide At every stroke, betwixt them would he slide And steal a kiss,... And dive into the water, and there pry Upon his breast, his thighs, and every limb.”
Marlowe was born the same year as William Shakespeare, His first play to be professionally staged in London was “Tamburlaine the Great” (1587) was one of the first English plays written in blank verse. He was reputed to be a spy, a brawler, a heretic, a magician, a duelist, a tobacco-user, a counterfeiter, and a rakehell. In 1599, his translation of Publius Ovidius Naso’s 1st-century BCE volume of erotic couplets was posthumously banned and publicly burned as part of the crackdown by archbishop John Whitgift of Canterbury on offensive material (”Amores” may have also been responsible for Ovid's own banishment). A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May 1593, allegedly because some of his writings contained "vile heretical conceipts," and 12 days later he was "stabbed to death by a bawdy serving-man, a rival of his in his lewd love" as punishment for his "epicurism and atheism" (according to Grances Meres in his “Palladis Tamia” published in 1598). However, his assassin was also a suspected spy. Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave. Many theories of his death, including that it was faked (due to his loyal service) to save him from trial and execution, have been propagated. Shakespeare’s first published work, “Venus and Adonis,” was registered with the Stationers' Company on 18 April 1593, with no named author, but was on sale under his name by 12 June. Shakespeare plagiarized Marlowe more than any other contemporary dramatist; so, using various literary and statistical techniques, many researchers have suggested that Marlowe, needing a new identity, continued to write using Shakespeare as a front man.