Rochelle Owens: 'Hermaphropoetics' / 'Amorous,' for Clayton Eshleman
Unnatural
the opaque energy
tearing the cornea
the eyes
leaking blood
blood
of the hermaphrodite
carnal/spiritual
A boy with bright red lips
captured after the siege
her long pale eyelashes
teasing femme/homme
a warhol-like playfulness
her/his body
A girl warrior with pierced nipples
fickle he saunters by
teasing femme/homme
emerging from the mists the mists
of Cumae
an impure creation
Meek sweetness the face the face
of the hermaphrodite
his platinum blond curls
bringing millions to their knees
Her/His body
a warhol-like playfulness
horizontal/vertical
carnal/spiritual
inside a dark purple fruit
the core divi/ded
the physical poetic
a flow of hormonal forces
the mother misery the father terror
amorous the greedy seed amorous
A hibiscus blooming on the vine
a mango rotting
its core split/ting
amorous the greedy seed amorous
His/Her body
tasting of basil saltwater
the mother misery the father terror
a slit in the stalk
blood seeping
Playful the unborn babe
in its amniotic sac
green and pale the scrotal lily
mauve and pale the butterfly vulva
floating on silkscreen
sorcery of his female brain
Her/His body
horizontal/vertical
the dome of her skull
his fat ankles her perfect toes
his earlobes the angle of her nose
his long pale eyelashes
her breath blowing kisses
his mouth her tongue
vigilant the babe sucking
a fringe of milk blood drool
circles the nipple
teasing femme/homme
emerging from the mists the mists
of Cumae
Meek sweetness the face the face
of the hermaphrodite
his platinum blond curls
bringing millions to their knees
[NOTE. An additional installment from Owens’s Hermaphropoetics appeared earlier on Poems and Poetics, & further installments can be expected in the future.]
Poems and poetics