Rochelle Owens: 'Hermaphropoetics' / 'Ice Water'
[The fifth installment published in Poems and Poetics of Owens’s work in progress, Hermaphropoetics.]
A master photographer
focusing her lens
a figure trussed and lying down
A glass of ice water sparkles
and shines under jagged trees
blinking in and out
A strange rain
vertical/horizontal altering perception
a camera flash an image
A round white tent
a little girl in harem pants
fickle he saunters by
Her elbows winging out moving
in circles blowing kisses
his long pale eyelashes
And gazes upwards smiling
beautiful the face of a child
teasing femme/homme
Her legs collapsing under him
his hands and feet dangling
out of the frame
An asymmetrical form
vertical/horizontal an impure creation
spiritual/carnal
The physical poetic the flesh of the apple
beautiful the hermaphrodite
in the concrete space
A white screen video
audio recordings a black vinyl mask
the hermaphrodite peeling almonds
A master photographer
nodding his head clapping her hands
moving in circles closer closer
Molecular the creeping tension
the cheekbones sharp-edged as a cube
earlobes jingling little bells
The harelip in light and shadow.
smelling tasting cinnamon honey
his tongue licking a clot of blood
Her throat a prolonged
muscular twitch the throat of a deaf mute
swallowing colors
Dark blue the smell of his breath
the flavor of her sweat seawater
a hermaphrodite captured after the siege
Out of the mists the mists of Cumae
a boy warrior
his head curiously small
Her shape insectoid from nose to tail
wearing body paint
stripes of black on his cheeks
A pollock-like rhythm
spirals of color dripping multiple hues
falling drops splattering purple
Splashing green lemon orange
her mouth watering
his tastebuds pulsating
She could feel and taste colors
bulbous and blood-packed his lips
meek sweetness the face
The face of the hermaphrodite
her platinum blonde curls
bringing millions to their knees
A master photographer
altering perception spiritual/carnal
a camera flash
A beauty queen wearing a thong
a strip of woven lambskin bare-assed
in the foliage
His soaring paper thin shoulderblades
out of the center page
the edge sharp
A hermaphrodite
covered with tattoos a hermaphrodite
emptied of allegory
Teasing femme/homme
hypermasculine hyperfeminine
murderous sex cells
A little girl in harem pants
pale and red the folds the petals
the flower vulva cut away
Shards shards of green glass
slashes slashes of color seeping
veins darkening ruby-red
A flow of hormonal forces
her/his body basil sea water
spiritual/carnal
*
How did the one
the one in the gypsy camp
make up the story?
a hermaphrodite
an impure creation captured
after the siege
How did the two children
merge together?
His/her body carnal/spiritual
an asymetrical form seated
on the stump of a tree
Three said that it was a legend
waxing poetic
a hermaphrodite falling out of the sky
an altruistic mother’s deathless love
Deathless love saved the babe
See the photos
of a master photographer
focusing her lens
a beauty queen wearing a thong—
a strip of woven lambskin
Out of his mouth protrudes her tongue
Four bearded elders circling
circling clockwise
Meek sweetness the face
the face gazing upwards smiling
his lips blowing kisses
her platinum blonde curls
bringing millions to their knees
Wedding bells Wedding cake
a little girl in harem pants
his long pale eyelashes
a boy warrior in a leather skirt
her long toes stalk-like legs
fickle he saunters by
strands of her hair blowing
the taste of his sweat seawater
His/her body
more than a daughter more than a son
teasing femme/homme
Out of the mists the mists of Cumae
Wedding bells Wedding cake
berries and apricots under the veil
joyful the groom lifting the veil
the harelip in light and shadow
a long curved fingernail
circles the cleft
Amorous the greedy seed amorous
tasting licking a clot of blood
Five lambs slaughtered for the feast
vertical/horizontal
teasing femme/homme
captured after the siege murderous sex cells
hypermasculine/hyperfeminine
a boy warrior in a leather skirt
her cheekbones
sharp-edged as a cube
a little girl in harem pants
dangling a charm bracelet made in China
lapis lazuli silver and rubies
blinking in and out sunlight/blackness
A master photographer
altering perception a wall of brown dust
Six musicians chanting drumming
squatting on their heels
Seven dancers
flexing contracting hips rump
thighs sunlight/blackness
blinking in and out
Eight days of feasting
Signs and Wonders the RUINSCAPE
disappearing
a strange rain vertical/horizontal
blinking in and out
a glass of ice water sparkles
Nine bearded elders circling clockwise
a boy warrior with bright red lips
with pierced nipples
Ten war lords circling clockwise
a little girl in harem pants
A camera flash
circling clockwise
an asymmetrical form seated
on the stump of a tree
Poems and poetics