Jerome Rothenberg and Sadie Rothenberg
'The Shadow of a Mad King' (1–7)
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Poems and Images
a work in progress
(1)
summoning the sacred voice
of Shelley
a curse on GOD and KING and LAW
the echo of a poet’s angry cry
against a mad king
(2)
out of his mind and ours
the mad king rages
casting all hope aside
the phantoms of the past
reborn as lies
(3)
a family of thieves
and freaky princes
how they surround a mad king
keeping the faces of the dying
out of sight
(4)
no room for shame
the mad king stares
at his own face
the dead like hornets fly around
and won’t be still
(5)
a mad king riding past
lines of grey bodies
shines a dark light from narrow clown’s eyes
but knows no words nor touch
to calm them
(6)
mechanics of despair
the shadow of a mad king
hovers atop the other shadows
eager to hear their angry voices
echo his own
(7)
nothing to focus on
but what his skewed mind
shows a mad king
veneration of a dying world
empty of any sound but howls and lies
Poems and poetics