Let no woman enterThis templeMenstrual blood defilesThe eighteen steps to the deityThe wombs of a woman stains your kitchenThe floors of your homeDesecrates you.Your mother is the sourceOf your impurity and unhappiness.Blood seeps out of herEvery monthThe red river that brings forth sorrowAnd compels a celibate GodTo seek solitudeIn a dense forestWith his eyes weeping […]
No more love songsThis land does not deservePraise.Why talk of loveOr justiceOr peaceOr liberationWhen hatchets speakWhen hammer and sickle and starAre masksAnd humanity is butcheredOn the altars of sorrowAnd politicians roar wordsOf madness?
Yesterday was lover’s dayWalls and waste landsPlastic in the seaIn the air, in the lungsThe ice caps meltingLovers Day or Mother’s DayAll Saints is a Demon’s Day.The plunder goes onNew Year’s DayOn Christmas DayThieves celebrateAnd lovers weep under Christmas treesMade of plastic.
I’ve hurt youThe furrows beneath your eyes are moist.Betrayed you.Your terrified eyes, your trembling hands, lipsAccuse me.What can I tell you in defence?Lies.Lies and a thousand more.It’s you who I loveYou aloneEvery day, every instant.My fire sweeps your oceans dryMy selfishness makes barrenYour hills of hope.Your lush green meadows of tendernessDon’t forgive me.Don’t.All I ask
Every day I say goodbyeTo clouds, to leaves, the sunWhat comes tomorrow is a new sunClouds still unbornStrange leaves, unseen birdsMy own skin.Everything changesEvery minute and every hourMayflies die in a dayLife is a short son of a bitchMakes me sadToo short to loveToo long to sufferPointless to wage war on ignoranceAnd if I begin
That’s the secretYou grow old, you alone.The earth stands still. Imagine.There’s no time.The days are eternalNights ephemeral.Out in spaceEverything rotates at varying speedsEverything stands still,When love is lostYou grow old, terribly old.How annoying.That’s the secret.Remain forever young.The moon remains a full moonThe earth’s a gardenThe days rush by, hush byThe nights are full of miraclesAnd
A milky oceanCloud after cloud after cloudA thick blanket over the hillsThat separates the white oceanFrom the skyAn airplane flies towards the westAnother towards the eastA tiny birdLooking up to see the bird flying westward.One cloud pushes anotherRips it apartInto a billion dropletsThe ocean of white rises, risesRises and devours me.Blinded, I am a fly
A thousand bodies pass byStrangers allMen with dogs, women with dogsDogs with ear phonesChildren with mobile phonesHushed voices, silenced melodiesDrums like heartbeats in dissonance.Sirens shriek.Blue lights blinkA dark car speeds pastA dozen cars in towA criminal on the runOr a politician in hasteLeafs fallFeathers swing low to rest.Night falls heavy with a thudA thousand bodies
If I were a carp, I’d linger in my pond,Bury my head in slime and be not wary.I’d have all day and all night to myself,Nothing would upset my calm.I’d swallow corn after corn, worm after worm,Gulp water and spit it out.And when I slide past tadpoles or a swarm of little fish,I’d take delight
Jasmine blossoms and a chain of pearlsA yellow dot on your foreheadNight GoddessOne with you, wrapped in lonelinessI feel no pain.I dread the scorpions who seek my warmthYou are my blanketMy day, my nightMy love, my joyVenus mars and Jupiter sail byA faint glow appears in the eastDrives me out into the wildernessOf senile menOf
