Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Lavinia

(Draft 1: Imitation of Brigit Pegeen Kelly's style for class, with liberties taken from Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus")

Clumps of sticks swing at the wind.

Dry wind. Enough to peel back black

Bark from black stumps in this circle

Around the still bog water. Yellow water,

Yellow grass, and the black crows calling.

The crows tell a story, which is an old story.

Old as the song the dry wind sings

Through the black bark and dead grass.

Old as anger. Crumbling in the grass,

Heavy footprints. The boys have run away.

They are laughing boys. And dirty.

Dirty from bog water and blood.

Their laughter is dirty and smells of iron.

Dry wind. Her body bends in the wind, twisting

In her white dress, a ruined dress,

Stains seeping dark from the dark triangle

Of her young cunt. Mouth open. Empty mouth.

No, not really empty at all, empty only

Of her little pink tongue. Now oozing,

Wet and hot, rent open, like the inside

Of some swollen fruit gone near to rot.

Clumps of sticks grow from stumps

Where her hands were and are not now. Claw

And claw at the wind. At her own chest.

Where do the hands lie? Folded

Or flung apart? Do they miss each other?

What now tastes the tongue?

Stale bog-wafer of still water-sodden dirt?

Crows are crying their dry cries. Wet mouth,

How to cry? How to tell the story? How

To sing? Song, story both are spilling

Warm and red. Flies are coming.

Green-gold swarm. Returning the song

Of the wind and the crows and the far-flung

Tongue and the stick-claws clawing with

their terrible hunger, terrible hoarseness.

But the swarm song is low. Low tone.

Low in the grass. A song without iron. Low

Song in the yellow grass in the red sun.

Song of things blessed and bled.

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