Rochelle Owens

New Poem 2020, 'Our Ruinscape'

The sun too shines into cesspools and is not polluted.

                                                                                         — Diogenes

 

On the cover                                                                                                                    

of a Science magazine

a rare image

 

disturbingly informative

 

you stare down

pursing your lips  your neck

to the side

 

plagued by doubt

 

a hologram

of the skeleton of a horse —
I must not jump-the-gun

 

 *

 

The rapt reader stands

in the space of an enigma

the hidden contours

 

of raw data 

 

*

 

Under a dead blue glow

a laboratory technician observes

a configuration of microbes

 

rapidly zigzagging 

 

zigzagging microbes

in a petri dish  colonizing  dispersing 

precise methodical

 

biological compulsion

 

*

 

O Maggie  you wrecked my bed

then kicked me in the head”

 

The  love of logic

the logic of love  I must not

jump the gun

 

*                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Zigzags of black lines

circles  triangles  rectangles 

subatomic  particles 

                                      f  l  o  a  t  i  n  g

on a computer screen

 

molecular the art

of nature  amorphous the forms 

corkscrews of white smoke

 

blinking in and out

 

the spiral tail of a comet

charred bits of the rat’s thigh

a dog gnawing a bone

 

*

 

Earth yields dandelion 

yields lemon trees  moisture

and nutrients 

 

a flow of hormonal forces

 

amorous the greedy seed

craving  licking  nectar  milk  mucus

rhythmic the ecstasy 

 

carnal/spiritual 

 

leaves and limbs

              s  p  r  e  a  d  i  n  g

                            u  n  d  u  l  a  t  i  n g

 

on multiple screens

digital images  the body

of the tapeworm 

 

folding  folding into itself 

 

undulating 

                 s  e  g  m  e  n  t  i  n  g

blowing kisses along

the digestive tract  folding 

folding into itself                                                                                                          

                      u  n  d  u  l  a  t  i  n  g

                             s  e  g  m  e  n  t  i  n  g

 

Earth  Air  Fire  Water                                                                                               

 

*                                                                                                                                                            

 

An outline shapes itself 

playful the unborn babe in its

amniotic sac 

 

carnal/spiritual

 

*

 

Morning to evening 

evening to morning  under 

the mask 

 

a smell of decay 

 

eye scape  ear scape

                                 r   u   i   n   s   c   a   p   e

 

*

Your bulbous tongue

hangs like a drape over your lip

the pulsating fissures

 

rapidly zigzagging

 

zigzagging fire ants etch

maps of wrath and anguish

                                       a  c   r   o   s  s   

your martyred

blood-packed tongue

 

*

 

End to end  a c r o s s

the triumphant twenty-first

century

 

out of the digital age

 

through the gaps of                                                                                                                                                                                                           

your fingers  the mute eyewitness

sees  hanging in the sky 

                                                                                                                                     

the skeleton  of a horse

 

appear  disappear                                                                                                         

eye scape  ear scape 

                             r   u  i  n  s  c  a  p  e

 

*

 

“O Maggie you wrecked my bed

then kicked me in the head”

 

the love of logic

the logic of love  I must not

jump the gun

 

*

 

A laboratory technician

draws a circular mark  passing

her hands  measuring

 

counting  dividing 

 

numbering the bones

skull  neck  spinal column   

yellow the bones

 

laid out like stage props

 

one for the cat chasing

a rat  one for the dog gnawing

a bone

 

*

The universe contains

everything that exists — biomorphic

geomorphic  polymorphic

 

Earth  Air  Fire  Water

 

the universe contracts  

                                  e    x    p    a    n    d   s

 

 every day bears the data                                                                                          

disease  famine  torture  war

 

*

It is at dusk when                                                                                                             

through the gaps of your fingers

you see peculiar forms

 

when an outline shapes itself 

appears        

                     d  i  s  a  p  p  e  a  r  s                                                                             

 

the stump of a tree splits

 

vertical/horizontal

 

it is at dusk when

through the gaps of your fingers 

an old woman on horseback 

 

appears  d  i  s  a  p  p  e  a  r  s

 

when through the gaps

of your fingers the mute eye witness

sees hanging in the sky

 

the skeleton of a horse

 

appear  d  i  s  a  p  p  e  a  r 

 

*

 

Evoking the rhythm of 

rhythm of spontaneous changes

dead cells

 

clothe and feed the flies

 

totem and taboo  totem

and taboo  work is a binding

obligation

 

blood in  blood out 

 

*

 

Rays of solar light pass                                                                                                 

through the dome of your skull 

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn                                                                                                            

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

flashes of solar light

illuminate prehistoric forests

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies 

 

rays of solar light

pass through layers of water

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

rays of solar light

pass through a barley plant

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

beams of solar light

penetrate volcanos  glaciers  deserts

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies 

 

rays of solar light

spiral into a mushroom cloud

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn                                                                                                             

each day  dead cells clothe                                                                                                                      and feed the flies  

 

beams of solar light

break down concrete walls

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

rays of solar light

burn through plastic particles

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

flashes of solar light

split the sea of plastic particles

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

beams of solar light

snake dance into plastic particles

rows of cadavers                                                                                                        

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies   

 

beams of solar light

break up dwarf storms of plastic particles

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

flashes of solar light

spiral through plastic particles                                                                                  

rows of cadavers

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

rays of solar light

pass through volcanic hills

illuminate a single                                                                                                              

 

blood-stained feather

 

when every dawn

each day  dead cells clothe

and feed the flies

 

*

 

Out of the scientific

explosive realm  the triumphant

twenty-first century

 

out of the digital age

 

every day bears the data

black letters spell    

                                  r   u   i   n   s   c   a   p   e

 

 

AUTHORS NOTE. In this poem I embrace the title “Our Ruinscape” with the joy of creating a bleak eye-space ear-space in which biodiversity, movement, competition, interaction, infector, infected, prey and predator  snake dance onto the white page.

Reverberations  yes …