Rochelle Owens: 'Beloved the Aardvark'

A new poem with author's comments

The letters horizontal

or vertical  f l o a t  before

your eyes 

 

a black line shapes itself

spells out the first noun in

an english dictionary

 

with a forefinger and thumb

spells out  A a r d v a r k 

an animal from Africa

 

body of data  data of body 

rabbitlike ears  a long cylindrical

tongue 

 

the tail of a kangaroo 

nocturnal  burrowing  a member 

of the mammalian order

 

made of the parts

of different animals  lay your hand

feel the bones under the skin       

 

            *

 

The universe contains

everything that exists  letters

that spell out

 

r u i  n s c a p e 

 

end to end long strings

of words blinking in and out

as the universe contracts 

 

e x p a n d s

 

across the twenty-first century 

mounds of sand  appear 

disappear 

 

always the Aardvark moves

in circles  moves in circles

in the here and now                                                                                                         2       

 

swaying side to side 

massive the claws digging 

searching

 

work is a binding obligation

a jaw opens and closes

carnal/spiritual

 

           *

 

On a computer screen

reflections of water  metal  glass

bouncing radio waves

 

black lines form letters 

precise  methodical  long strings

of words  vertical/horizontal 

 

words detached from

the course of events  planned

or spontaneous patterns 

 

spirals of wind and fire

zigzags of black and white lines 

layers of brown dust

 

biomorphic  geomorphic 

polymorphic  slashes  slashes

of solar light

 

earth  air  fire  water

 

motionless the Aardvark

stands  listening  blood in

blood out

 

           *

 

Press button to see

Science and Art of creating

archetypal scenes

 

come into being

long ago  an hour ago

only a minute                                                                                                                   3    

 

known and unknown shapes

the flesh of the apple  the dome

of a human skull

 

a mushroom cloud

 

each successive image

signs and wonders  earth  air 

fire  water

          

motionless the Aardvark

stands listening  blood in 

blood out

 

           *

 

Press button to see

a bucolic setting  grape vines 

olive groves 

 

fields of sunflowers  

white the summer blossoms

a wedding party

 

the bride and groom  pale

and red his lips  her breast vein

as thick as a finger

 

out of his mouth

protrudes his tongue  cinnamon cumin 

honey and salt 

 

lines of insects appear 

disappear  tendons and nerves

pulsate 

 

a flow of hormonal forces

blood in  blood out  the universe

contracting

 

e x p a n d i n g

 

an outline shapes itself

playful the unborn babe in its

amniotic sac                                                                                                                     4                                                                                                                        

 

           *

 

Always the Aardvark

moves in circles  moves in circles

in the here and now

 

earth  air  fire  water

 

moves in circles  swaying

side to side  rhythmic the blood

the months in a year

 

disease  famine  torture  war

 

mounds of sand appear  disappear

 

massive the claws

digging  searching  long ago 

an hour ago

 

only a minute

 

           *

 

On a warm day in spring 

a woman plays a harpsichord 

the lid painted with scenes

 

of mythological animals 

known and unknown shapes

nocturnal  solitary

 

black zigzags

appear  disappear  motionless 

the Aardvark stands

 

listening  a jaw opens

and closes  audible  inaudible 

the sound of the predator 

 

lay your hand

feel the bones under the skin

carnal/spiritual

 

 

Author’s comment: “To look at the image of an Aardvark is to take a cosmic Rorschach test, and like a cubist mural is both a microcosm and macrocosm. You understand Intuitively — a Cartesian resolution of body and spirit. The poem presented here is the first of a series of poems titled ‘Beloved the Aardvark,’ related I suppose to the poem ‘Devour Not the Elephant’ that appeared earlier in Poems and Poetics.” — Rochelle Owens