ACCIDENTAL CIVILIZATIONS RISE AND FALL
1)
This has all happened before,
white upon white, blue upon blue,
one shore washes the other,
shake sugaree,
A handful of
devilwind
whinnywashes
the Arab
Peninsula
civilizations rise
quite by accident
drift along awhile
spilling life sand
like Babylon, drift,
drift, here or there
an outpost or colony
each held in place by
mortar and STONE,
civilizations fall
II)
Somewhere east of the blue Aegean (our rational sea) priests are hard at it tonight sitting in circles, eating peyote buttons, consulting oracles, parading with the gods, pillaging the royal coffers, one with the Eagle; somewhere east of Eden, priests are disagreeing on matters of public opinion, lying in wait, their hearts, their hearts, passing secrets around like cargo cults
bobbypins
handshakes
rattlesnakes
hands cupped in solemn prayer like oyster shells
III
O Bearer
of the Tool
O Seamus
Taming the bull
O Chaldeans
Ringing church bells
O boy king
who sloped off
with the blue star,
O Eleanor
of the dagger
& the bowl,
heed my prayer
O sun that burns in the southern hemisphere,
hold thy poison, spare thy sting,
smite mine enemy
IV
(Give us this day
our daily turret
our cloak of steel
give us this day
our tread our tyres
our touristic visionary impulses
our pillagers
& plague of rats
give us this day
our amino acids
our ammunition
our public intoxication
& executions
give us Ganga
give us ahimsa
give us serene DNA
O our lord)
V
Once I was a Turkish boy educated at the breast of an olive tree. Once I was a Kurdish freedom fighter on a mountain track in spring (I have dodged helicopters and spiked Russian tanks like a boy at play). Once I was the daughter of an Egyptian General with stars on his epaulet: I wore bangles & a Rolex my eyes were hazel my complexion blue and serious as lapis lazuli.
Once I was a Vlach
in broad pants
singing
Bing
Bang
Boom
whilst walloping cookpots
in Cleveland
(I also invented Civilization)
VI
(It was an accident, uncle, I swear on it, it was a mistake, I swept all evidence of the crime away; all scrubbed down, like boiling water on baby, like Catherine wheel, all evidence swept away, it was easy boss, I know not what I do, O do not send me away!)
VII
I am Goatboy
I laughed
too long
with Dionysus
(who leapt over
the Golden calf
& invented
Alphabets?)
I am Goat Boy
(who scorned Dreyfus
& sang
with the typewriters
of war correspondents
in the Pyrenees?)
I am blue
throated dawn
I am Goat Boy!
Worship me
Half god Half man
all together Naked,
eating honeycombs,
bladder bursting
with wine & mischief;
each breath
you draw
fresh
to your lungs
as mountain air
VIII
(the prophecy is
fulfilled!
the archer
who lay prone in
yellow grass
for centuries
has stood up
& has shot the Lion
square in the eye.
now he points an arrow
at the sun,
fearlessness
the only reality,
& fires!
he is our man.
he has saved
our nation.
he is
taller than
oak.
IX
civilizations
prosper & die,
accidentally,
& love
swells up
like pulp
like sap
in the heart
of
Fair Rosamond.