Unbearables

TONGUES OF LIGHT & DARKNESS (THE BOY KING)

Steve Dalachinsky
Paris 1/14/06

1.

     (this sound)
unraveling
amongst the sculpted dirt
lamps of imported skin
drop the pen maker & his greasy pastels
here inside a full moon
the upward struggle of splotchy charcoals
as if mined   uprooted   & collapsed    again /
a figure of speech
dark shades of black     & greys
spoken /
displaced /
a sperm of red
a collar of great green anxiety     soften
a lens of intrusion
                                        (another test I've gone & failed)
banks of plentitude
ironies that twist themselves around rosy cheeks
still molten from the foundry
ros(e)y ironies
roses of iron
&     the moon
over an old river of bridges.

2.
this imposter race &
muddy crucifix
flutes sing their praises
birdlike profiles of old men   cry for new stories

a pinecone drops from the wilderness of civilization
the way a newly crowned child king
sprouts from a civilization of wild beasts
where natural
as a crushed face
the un natural
super natural &
preter - natural
form doors
rabble banished thru warbling cloth

3.
a young king
removes the crown
from his head
the crown becomes a full moon
the moon
a wafer on the devil's tongue

4.
a touch of yellow
there
in the bones of the old
decaying tree.

Steve Dalachinsky was born after the last Big War and has managed to survive lots of little wars. His poems have appeared extensively in journals on and off line, including Big Bridge, Evergreen Review, Long Shot, Unbearable assemblage magazines, NY Arts Magazine, 88, Lost and Found Times, plus such anthologies as Beat Indeed, The Haiku Moment and the esteemed Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. His latest books include Reaching Into the Unknown, with photographer Jacques Bisecglia (RogueArt, 2009), A Superintendent’s Eyes (Unbearables/Automomedia, 2013) and Fool’s Gold (Feral Press, 2014).