Rochelle Owens
'Patterns of Animus,' Part 4: Carnal/Spiritual
“But how could you live and have
no story to tell”
1.
The rhythm of spontaneous
change moving back and forth evokes
the scenic order
Earth Air Fire Water
Long ago an hour ago
only a minute morning to evening
evening to morning
Past Present Future
Cold at dawn warm
at midday boiling at midnight
a course of events moving
Back and forth every day
Bears the data data
of body body of data with each
breath a sucking sound
Animal soul Spiritual hole
Biomorphic geomorphic
polymorphic moisture and nutrients
flow in your mammalian brain
Slashes of solar light
Vibrating subatomic particles
split vertical/horizontal chasms
and fissures in the earth
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“Stupidity is brief and artless —
intelligence squirms and hides itself.”
2.
On the monumental screen
an amalgam of letters join together
organize themselves
Vertical/horizontal
Moving back and forth
a jagged black line zigzags splits
zigzags breaks apart zigzags
A latent image appears
Disappears your eyes move
constantly while reading Body of Data
Data of Body
Digital letters spell
G E N U S evolution is smart
clear and simple competition is intense
between species
Networks of neurons
Chemical molecular a flow
of hormonal forces hungry or thirsty
eat or drink
Sight Smell Taste
Digital letters spell
B A C T E R I A S A L T hungry
or thirsty eat or drink
Your mouth waters
Salt in the stew salt
In the bread your body sways
from side to side
Inhaling exhaling
The Universe contracts
E X P A N D S
spirals of veins pulsate
Your tongue protrudes
from your mouth blood in
blood out
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“A longing for life. It’s not a matter of intellect or logic
it’ s loving with one’s inside with one’s stomach.”
3.
On the monumental screen
a jagged black line zigzags splits
breaks apart zigzags
An outline shapes itself
The body of the tapeworm
moving back and forth moving
back and forth along
The alimentary canal
Digital letters spell
H E A D N E C K and chain of
S E G M E N T S
The body of the tapeworm
S E G M E N T I NG
undulating multiple suckers and
mouths blowing kisses
Amorous the greedy seed
Craving licking sucking chewing gorging anus to mouth
mouth to anus lickety-split
Take me away from this earth
Salt in the stew
salt in the bread I could have
danced all night
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“Can’t I simply be devoured without being expected
to praise what devours me.”
4.
A latent image appears
disappears in such a way will
events unfold leaving
Empty spaces
Morning to evening
evening to morning you are
about to play
The role of your life
Through the gaps
of your fingers moving vertical/
horizontal moving front
And back back and forth
An amalgam of letters
moving back and forth slowly
the letters entwine
Audible inaudible
Moving your lips
as you read from A to Z
Oh wicked world!
Biomorphic geomorphic
polymorphic inhaling exhaling
with each breath
A sucking sound
Body of data data
of body moving your lips
as you read
From A to Z oh wicked world!
Digital letters spell
T R E A T D E A T H L I K E B I R T H
how tightly the words hold you
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“Nature doesn’t ask your permission it doesn’t care
about your wishes or whether you like its laws or not”
5.
Unforeseen drifting along
the alimentary canal humming
singing whistling
The tapeworm blowing kisses
A phenomenal talent
of melody swiveling along
your gut wall
S T R E T C H I N G
His neck from right
to left gushing spurting squirting
swaying side to side
The body of the tapeworm
Seized with jittery energy
shakes rattles and rolls rhythmic
the ecstasy of Master Worm
Trembling ejaculating
Hot dense fireballs
spermatozoon a ferocious
S C A T T E R I N G
Neutron stars black holes
Behold! The Universe contracts
E X P A N D S
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“When you look into an abyss the abyss
looks into you”
6.
In the beginning Earth
undertook experiments there
were many freaks
Bizarrely put together
Fluttering your eyelashes
you chew the rind of a lemon
and suck in your cheeks
A flow of hormonal forces
Your blood-packed tongue
and bulbous eyes move constantly
digital letters spell
Carnal/spiritual
Spirals of colors pulsate
zigzags of black lines vertical/
horizontal
An outline shapes itself
Biomorphic geomorphic
polymorphic inhaling exhaling
with each breath
A sucking sound
The camera zooms and pans
the body of a scorpion walking with
its legs In a strange
Rhythmical arrangement
Animal soul spiritual hole
you are about to play the role
of your life
Blood in Blood out
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“There is more wisdom in your body than
in your deepest philosophy”
7.
As the planets orbit
the sun saliva pools behind
your teeth
Before drought and hunger
The clouds the rain
snow hail storms thunder
lightening bolts
Before the notion
of peaceful humility a ferocious
S C A T T E R I N G
Amorous the greedy seed
Cold at dawn warm
at midday boiling at midnight
rays of light penetrate
The dome of your skull
The brain contracting
E X P A N D I N G
when your eyes move
A latent image appears
disappears swiveling along your
gut wall a jagged black line
Splits zigzagging
Breaks apart embedding
the fat and sleek little wormlets
growing regenerating
Craving licking sucking
Digital letters spell
S I G H T S M E L L T A S T E
hungry or thirsty eat or drink
The camera zooms and pans
Glowing particles of
charred fish skin a loaf of bread
a glass of water
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that
in the process he does not become a monster”
8.
And only then on the
computer screen in elaborate
lettering reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Ornamental letters moving
back and forth appear disappear
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
On multiple screens
zigzags of black lines break off
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Under the stump of a tree
out of a hole the art of nature
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Where heaven and earth
intersects rhythmic the ecstasy
reading the words
Of the Poet Maudite
Beyond our visible world
mysterious the Dancing Worm
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Fat lambs slaughtered
for the feast vertical/horizontal
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Then the hand of the
butcher lops off diseased parts
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Then the hand of the
butcher cuts away rotten meat
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
An image half seen
swiveling along your gut wall
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Animal soul spiritual hole
take me away from this earth
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Head neck and chain of
S E G M E N T S gush spurt squirt
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Seized with jittery energy
you must find the demon in everything
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Where heaven and earth
intersects rhythmic the ecstasy
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Hearing the chirps and
whistles of Lorelei our Dancing Worm
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Multiple suckers and lips
dribble gurgle gush slobber squirt
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
A head protrudes
from your mouth carnal/spiritual
reading the words
Of the Poete Maudite
Behold Our Mistress Worm!
Work is a binding obligation
Black and hot my coffee
Disease Famine Torture War
— Rochelle Owens
(Eight citations of two energetic
phillosophers; Dostoevski and Nietzsche)
[N.B. The preceding is the continuation of Rochelle Owens’s epic new work, earlier sections of which have appeared here before, and more will surely follow. (J.R.)]
Poems and poetics