Anglo-Mongrels and the Rose

2 0 00

By voicevoidlibrary

Exodus

Exodus lay under an oak-tree

Bordering on Buda Pest

he had lain

him down

to over-night

under the lofty rain

of starlight

having leapt from the womb

eighteen years ago

and grown

neglected

along the shores of the Danube

on the Danube in the Danube

вАФor breaking his legs behind runaway horsesвБ†вАФ

with a Carnival quirk

every Shrove Tuesday

Of his riches

a Patriarch

erected a synagogue

вАФ

вАФfor the people

His son

looked upon Lea

вАФ

of the people

she sat in Synagogue

вАФher hair

long as the Talmud

вАФher tamarind eyesвБ†вАФ

вАФ

and disinherited

begat this Exodus

Imperial Austria taught the child

the German

secret patriotism

the Magyar tongue

the father

stuffed him with biblical Hebrew and the

seeds of science

exhorting him

to vindicate

his forefatherвАЩs ambitions

The child

flowered precociously

fever

smote the father

the widowed mother

took to her bosom

a spouse

of her own sphere

and hired

Exodus in apprenticeship

to such

as garrulously inarticulate

ignore

the cosmic cultures

Sinister foster-parents

who lashed the boy

to that paralysis of

the spiritual apparatus

common to

the poor

The arid gravid

intellect

of jewish ancestors

the senile juvenile

calculating prodigies of Jehovah

вАФCrushed by the Occident ox

they scraped

the gold gold golden

muck from off its hoofsвБ†вАФ

moves Exodus

to emmigrate

coveting the alien

asylum

of voluntary military

service

paradise

of the pound-stirling

where the domestic Jew

in lieu

of knouts

is lashed with tongues

The cannibal God

shutters his lids of night

on the dayвАЩs gluttony

the partially

devoured humanity

warms its unblessed beds

with bare prostrations

An insect

from an herb

errs on the

man-mountain

imparts

its infinitesimal tactile stimulus

to the epiderm

to the spirit

of Exodus

stirring

the anaesthetised load

of racial instinct frustrated

impulse

infantile impacts with unreason

on his unconscious

Blinking his eyesвБ†вАФ

вАФ

at sunrise

Exodus

lumbar-aching

sleep logged

turns his ear

to the grit earth

and hears

the boom of cardiac cataracts

thumping the turf

with his young pulse

He is undone!

How should he know

he has a heart

The Danube

gives no instruction in anatomyвБ†вАФ

the primary

throb of the animate

a beating mystery

pounds on his ignorance

in seeming

death dealingвБ†вАФ

The frightened fatalist

clenches his eyes

for the involuntary sacrifice

stark

to the sun-zumm dirges of

a bee

he lays him out

for his heart-beats to slay him

It is not accomplished

the burning track

of lengthening sun shafts

spur

This lying-in-state of a virility

to rise

and in his surprised

protracted viability

shoulder his pack

Exodus

whose initiations

in arrogance

through brief

stimulation of his intellect

in servitude

through early

ill-usage

etch involute

inhibitions

upon his sensibility

sharpened and blunted

вАФbound for his unformulate

conception of lifeвБ†вАФ

makes for the harbour

and the

dogged officer of Destiny

kept Exodus

and that which he begat

moving along

The highest paid

tailorвАЩs

cutter in the вАЬCityвАЭ

Exodus

Lord Israel

nicknamed

from his consummate bearing

his coaly eye

challenging

the unrevealed universe

speaking fluently

вАЬbusiness-EnglishвАЭ

to the sartorial world

jibbering

stock exchange quotations

and conundrums of finance

to which

unlettered immigrants are instantly

initiate

Those foreigners

before whom

the soul

of the new Motherland

stands nakedly incognito

in so many ciphers

In the boarding-house

the lady with

the locket

вАЬYou will excuse meвБ†вАФ

вАФ

Our Dear Queen

picks chicken bones in

her fingersвАЭ

Exodus

at leisure

painting

knowing not why

sunflowers turned sunwards

Sundays

when

England closed

the eyes of every

commercial enterprise

but the church

and spewed

her silent servants

out of her areas

in their bi-weekly вАЬbestвАЭ

вАЬOw get along with youвАЭ

their lurching lovers

along the rails of parks

The high-striped

soldiers of the swagger-stick

tempting the wilder flowers of womanhood

to lick-be-quick ice cream

outside the barracks

This jovian hebrew вАЬall dressed up

and nowhere to goвАЭ

stands like a larch

upon the corners of incarcerate streets

deploring the anomalous legs

of ZionвАЩs sons

with the subconscious

irritant of superiority

left in an aristocacy

out of currency

paces

the cancellated desert of the metropolis

with the instinctive urge

of loneliness

to get to вАЬthe heart of somethingвАЭ

The heart of England

sporting its oak

on the rude ratepayer

Hymns

ancient and modern

belabour

crippled cottage-grands

in parlour fronts

A thrush

shatters its song upon the spurious shade

of a barred bird-fancierвАЩs

The dumb philosophies

of the wondering jew

fall into rhythm

with

long unlistened-to

hebrew chants

A wave

вАЬout of tideвАЭ

with the surrounding

ocean

he breaks

insensitized

non-participance

upon himself

(The) unperceived

conqueror

of a new world

in terms of cutting and drafting

Exodus

lifts his head

over the alien crowds

under the alien clouds

proudly

as memory

evokes

the panic-stricken

discoverer of his own heart

coming

barefoot

to the Synagogue

erected by his grandfather

вАФ

The Rabbi said вАЬYour grandfather

was a great and a

just man

we reap what he has sown

вАФ

honoured be his memory

so hereвАЩs

your fare

third class

May the God of Israel

bless thee among the GentilesвАЭ

And the God of the Gentiles

blessed him among Israel

he had several

shares in the South Eastern

Railway

and other

securities

Suddenly

he remembers

how his mother

told him

he was a seven monthвАЩs child

вАФthing of etherial circulationвБ†вАФ

wrapped in wadding

somewhat

green-seeming

as an untimely apple

And Exodus

feels cold

with sympathy

for that cold thing

that was himself

вАФ

The London dusk

wraps up the aborted entity

heeding SolomonвАЩs admonishing

spends

circumcised

circumspect

his evenings

doing lightning calculations

for his high pleasure

Painting

вАФ

feeling his pulse

вАФ

Incorporeal express trains

from opposite directions

of unequal

lengths and velocities

flash

through his abstract eye

determines instantly

the time

to a decimal

fraction of a second

they take

to pass each other

Under his ivory hands

his sunflowers sunwards

glow

confuse

with itinerant

Judaic eyes

peering

through narrow-slim

entrance-arches

The terrestrial trees

shades

virgin bosoms and blossoms

in course of his acclimatization

a hedge-rose

вАФ

He paints

He feels his pulse

The spiritual

tentacles of vanity

that each

puts out towards

the culture

of his epoch

knowing not how to find

and finding not

contact

he has repealed

to fumble among his guts

The only

personal reality

he brought from Hungary

he takes

to Harley street

where medicine

sits

the only

social science

applied to the outsider

The parasite

attaches to the English Rose

вАФ

at a guinea a visit

вАФ

becomes

more tangible to himself

the exile

mechanism

he learns

is built

to the same osseous structure

identical phenomena

with those

populating the Island

that segregated

from his apprehension

moves

a universe

of unceasing

energies

for the biological

explorerвАЩs introspection

His body

becomes the target of his speculation

His brain

ravenous for informative food

spins

cobwebs

on the only available

branching out of facts

clings

to the visceral

items

he has heard mentioned

until they ache

under mesmeric concentration

Exodus

discovers his nerves

as once

Mankind

in pathological mysticism

believed

itself

to have discovered

its soul

DavidвАЩs daughterвАЩs doweries

and olive-eyes

virgins capitalized

to tantalize!

JehovahвАЩs tailor

sets up in business for himself

however

Some queer

marital independence on the English air

keeping him bachelor

While through

stock quotations

and Latin prescriptions

for physic

filters the lyric

aroma of the rose

Exodus knows

no longer father

or brother

or the God of the Jews,

it is his to choose

finance or

romance of the rose

English Rose

Early

English

everlasting

quadrate Rose

paradoxвБ†вАФImperial

trimmed with some travestied flesh

tinted with bloodless duties

dewed

with LiptonвАЩs teas

and grimed

with crack-packed

herd-housing

petalling

the prim gilt

penetralia

of a lustre scioned

core-crown;

Rose of arrested impulses

self pruned

of the primordial attributes

вАФ

A tepid heart

inhibiting

with tactful terrorism

the (Blossom) Populous

to mystic incest with its ancestry

establishing

by the divine

right of self assertion

the post-conceptual

virginity of Nature

Wiping

its pink paralysis

across the dawn of reason

A World-blush

glowing from

a never-setting-sun

Conservative Rose

storage

of British Empire-made pot-pourri

of dry dead men

making a sweetened smell

among a shrivelled collectivity

Which august dust

stirred by

the trouser-striped prongs of statesmanship

(whenever politic)

rises upon the puff of press alarm

and whirling itself

deliriously around the

unseen

Bolshevik

subsides

in ashy circularity

вАЬa wreathвАЭ upon the

unknown

soldierвАЩs grave

And Jehovah

strikes,

through the fetish

of the island hedges,

Exodus

who on his holiday

(induced

by the insiduous pink

of AlbionвАЩs ideal)

is looking for a rose

And the rose

rises

from the green

of a green lane

rosily-stubborn

and robustly round

вАФ

Under a pink print

sunbonnet

the village maid

scowls at the heathen

Albion

in female form

salutes the alien Exodus

staring so hardвБ†вАФ

warms his nostalgia

on her belligerent innocence

вАФ

The maidenhead

drooping her lid

and pouting of her breast

вАФ

forewarns

his amity

вАФ

Amorphous meeting

in the month of May

вАФ

This Hebrew

culled by Cupid on a thorn

of the rose

lays siege

to the thick hedgerows

where she blows

on Christian Sundays

She

simpering in her

ideological pink

loaded with Mosaic

passions that amass

like money

implores her to take pity

upon him

and come and be a вАЬlady in the CityвАЭ

Maiden emotions

bread

on leaves of novels

where anatomical man

has no notion

of offering other than the bended knee

to femininity

and purity

passes in pleasant ways

as the cows grazeвБ†вАФ

For in those days

when Exodus courted the rose

literature was supposed to elevate us

So the maid

with puffy

bosom

where Jerusalem

dreams to ease

his head of calculations

in the Zero of ecstasy

and a little huffy

bristles

with chastity

For this is the last Judgment

when Jehovah

roars

вАЬOpen your mouth!

and I will tell you what you have been readingвАЭ

Exodus had been reading

Proverbs

making sharp distinction

between the harlot

and the Hausfrau

arraying

her offspring in scarlet

approving

such as garner good advice like grain

and such as know enough

to come in from the rain

вАФ

The would-be

secessionist from IsraelвАЩs etiquette

(shielding pliant Jewesses from shame

less glances

And the giving

of just percentages

to matrimonial intermediaries)

is spiritually

intrigued

by the Anglo-Saxon phenomenon

of Virginity

delightfully

on its own

defensive!

This pouting

pearl beyond price

flouting

the male pretentions

to its impervious surface

Alice the gentile

Exodus the jew

after a few

feverish tiffs

and reparations

chiefly conveyed in exclamations

вАФ

a means of expression

modified by lack of experience

unite their variance

in marriage

Exodus

Oriental

mad to melt

with something softer than himself

clasps with soothing pledges

his wild rose of the hedges

While she

expecting

the presented knee

of chivalry

repells

the sub-umbilical mystery

of his husbandry

вАФ

hysterically

His passionate anticipation

of warming in his arms

his rose

to a maturer colouration

which was all of aspiration

the grating upon civilization

of his sensitive organism

had left him

splinters upon an adamite

opposition

of nerves like stalactites

This dying chastity

had rendered up no soul

вАФ

Yet they pursued their congugal

dilemmas

as is usual

with people

who know

not what they do

but know

that what they do

вАФ

is not illegal

Deep in the nevrose

night

peruses this body

divested of its upholstery

firmly insensitive

in mimicry

of its hypothetical model

a petal

of the English rose

An abstracted Ada

in myopic contemplation

of the incontemplatable

compound rosette

of peerless negations

That like other Gods

has never appeared

leaving itself to be inferred

Whereof

it is not seemly

that the one petal

shall apprehend

of the other petals

their conformity

For of this Rose

вАФ

wherever it blows

it is certain

that an impenetrable pink curtain

hangs between it and itself

And in metaphysical vagrance

it passes beyond the ken

of men

unless

possessed

of exorbitant incomes

And ThenвБ†вАФ

merely indicating its presence

by an exotic fragrance

A rose

вАФthat like religions

before

becoming amateurвБ†вАФ

enwraps itself

in esoteric

and exoteric

dimensions

the official

and inofficial

social

morale

The outer

classes

accepting the official

of the inner

вАФ

as a plausible

gymnastic

for disciplining the inofficial

вАЬflesh and the devilвАЭ

to the ap

parent impecca

bility

of the Eng

вАФ

and for

Empire

what form could be superior

to the super-imposed

slivers

of the rose?

The best

is this compressed

all round-and-aboutвБ†вАФ

itself conformation

Never letting out

subliminal infection

from hiatuses

in its sub-roseal skeleton

Its petals hung

with tongues

that under the supervision

of the Board of Education

may never sing in concert

вАФ

for some

singing h

flat and some

h sharp вАЬThe Arch

angels sing HвАЭ

There reigns a disproportionate

disвАЩarmony

in the English Hanthem

And for further information

re the RoseвБ†вАФ

and what it does to the nose

while smelling it

вАФ

See Punch

Mongrel Rose

Ada Gives Birth to Ova

Her face

screwed

to the mimic-salacious

grotesquerie of a pain

larger than her intellect

вАФ

They pull

A clotty bulk of bifurcate fat

out of her loins

to lie

for a period

while

performing hands

pour lactoid liquids through

and then mop up

beneath it

their golden residue

A breathing baby

mystero-chemico Nemesis

of obscure attractions

(The incontinent

exudes into involuntary

retention

Uncouth conception of the incalculable)

The isolate consciousness

projected

from back of time and space

pacing its padded cell

The soul

apprenticed to the butcher business

offers organic wares

to sensibility

A dim inheritor

of this undeniable flesh

The destinies

Genii

of traditional

Israel and of Albion

push on its ominous pillow

its racial birth-rights

(Curses for baby

from its godmothers)

вАФ

Till the least godmother

pipes

вАФ

in her fairy way

вАЬPerhaps you know my name

вАФ

Survival?

Curse till the cows come home

Behold my gift

The Jewish brain!вАЭ

So is the mystic absolute

the rose

that grows

from the red flowing

from the flank of Christ

thorned with the computations

of the old

JehovahвАЩs gender

Where Jesus of Nazareth

becomes one-piece

with Judas Iscariot

in this composite

Anglo-Israelite

Out of a fatted frown

this spirit pokes its eyes

its star tipped handy-pandies

darting on the air

Solemn and unsurprised

and clumsily

lapped by insensitive maternity

it lies

waving its brand new feet

and feeds

its mongrel heart on BengerвАЩs food

for infants

Enter Esau Penfold

Feeling his need for such a book as this

I wrote the вАЬInfant AestheteвАЭ for

my little Esau

вАФ

Patricia PenfoldвАЩs preface

Fresh

from the publishers

the вАЬauthorвАЩs

copyвАЭ

circulating at the small

and informal reception

for wiseacres and waisted-women

вАЬTo viewвАЭ

Esau and his authoress

in their accurate draperies

for Lady Bliss

вАЩs classical costume ball

The boy

one bare arm

thrust through a gossamer

toga

of Tyrian rose

is holding out an orb

вАФThere is a portrait of him in that pose

labelled вАЬEsau holding an orbвАЭ

The guests

spreading their gleaming

faces

forward

to convey

that they

remember nothing since the Garden of Eden

the garish innocence

of adult guilt

in the presence of children

One takes the little Esau on his knee

to listen to his watch

and absentmindedly

discourses

on the differential calculus

while an African explorer

explains how easily

he might catch lions if he wished

вАЬIt only needs kindness and a turn of the wristвАЭ

The matrons

shaking their bustles

with a slight impatience

that one so singled out as he

by British culture

might gain

competitively

on their own offspring

decide to вАЬput themselvesвАЭ

upon the order list

for вАЬInfant AesthetesвАЭ

The fire

flicks from the

fifteenth-century

andirons

and the ruby eyes

of Buddha

On treasures of Tibet

the вАЬtrouseredвАЭ draperies

of a wood faced Virgin from the Netherlands

The golden wings

of Florentine angels

and a piece of Ming

вАЬEverythingвАЭ as the five year old Esau

suavely smiles

to a professor of anthropology

вАЬto delight the heart of a childвАЭ

In the Penfold residence

on Ridover Square

In Kilburn terrace

if you know where that is?

вАФ

ExodusвАЩ child

is propped upon a chair

of chestnut cretonne

printed with maroon

acanthus leaves and big buff water-lillies

and told to вАЬhushвАЭ

while thrust

into her baby-pelisse

of ruby plush

under an oleograph

of вАЬThe CatвАЩs Fancy BallвАЭ

вАФ

hung on a sky-blue wall

Ova Begins to Take Notice

A faggot of instincts

that within the year

rises

the caryatid of an idea

Two elongations of its will

armвБ†вАФcrave

the curious glare

virile

behind unravelable wire

The staring baby

stumbles to the fire

Her consciousness

sluggish

to raucous surfaces

of necessities

quickens

to colourвБ†вАФthrusts

of the quintessent light

вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†until a womanвАЩs

ineludable claws of dominion

lift her above the Elysian

fields of flame

in a receding

prison

of muscular authority

an agency

for displacing

the finer aspects of the objective

in her sight

and turning to shame

the nucleus

вАФвБ†вАКвБ†in infantile impotenceвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

of Primeval Right

The suctional soul

clings to the variвБ†вАФpinct universe

With its reverse

of increate shadow

into which all

elating shows

recede

or roll

A crimson ball

bouncing

to her spontaneous psalms

of happiness

rolls

into nonвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКbeing

under the aeraвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКivyвАЩs

diaper of rainвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКpocked dust

She must

make her a rose

out of red thread

but red

ness

is inadequate

to the becoming of a rose

вАФвАКTheвБ†вАКвАФвБ†вАКredвБ†вАКвАФвБ†вАКreelвБ†вАКвАФвБ†вАКrollsвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

The prismatic sunвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКshow

of fatherвАЩs physic bottles

pierced by the light of day

extinguishes!

as she is carried away

Her entity

she projects

into these sudden colours

for self identification

is lost in recurrent annihilation

with an old desperate unsurprise

Her emotions rise

from no beginning

They are worn

with racial patience

So she is patient

with the temperate underвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

tones of hostile bodies

that stand still

and those

that move

in fretful thunderвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

вАФвБ†вАКfunctions of their

irate Importances

become definedвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

NurseвАЩs

draperies are resigned

The mother

draws near unnaturally

as if to assert her dignity

after some

outrage

that seems to rustle

among her draperies

drawn across her thighs

to bunch over her bustle

Jostled

between revolving

armoured towers

carrying

high up on the top

two little spy holes

eyeingвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

and arms like signals

flapping and cuffing

the heavy upholstered

stuffing

of these

two womenвАЩs netherbodies

The child

whose wordless

thoughts

grow like visionary plants

finds

nothing objective new

and only words

mysterious

Sometimes a new word comes to her

she looks before her

and watches

for its materialization

вАЬIarrheaвАЭ

Two years of her initiation

to light and darknessвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

and another

baby lies

in the young motherвАЩs

arms of indignation

And it is carefully attended to

but all this passing toвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

andвБ†вАФfro of hands

does not weave

brightness about the baby

hands that use

the same things too often

and nothing bright

comes of their use

Over the newвБ†вАФborn

in the bassinet

the armoured towers

are bending

in iron busks

of curved corsets

consultingвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

And in her ear

a half inaudibleвБ†вАФan

iridescent hush

forms вАЬiarrheaвАЭ

вАЬIt is

quite greenвАЭ She hears

The cerebral

mush

convolving in her skull

an obsessional

colourвБ†вАФfetish

veers

to the souvenir

of the delirious ball

deleted

in the ivied

dust

lets fall

an opticвБ†вАФray

upon the catвАЩsвБ†вАФeyes horseвБ†вАФshoe

pinned to a bended bust

And instantly

this fragmentary

simultaneity

of ideas

embodies

the word

lucent

iris

shifts

its

irradiate

interstice

glooms and relumes

on an orb of verdigris

An unreal

globe terrestial

of oliveвБ†вАФjewel

dilatesвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКevaporates

into the Increate

And as it vanishes

she crawls into the macabre

shadowiness

upon the floor

under the white valances

of the furnitures

to look for it

She is pulled out by her leg

Opposed Aesthetics

As the arrested artists

of the masses

whose child faces

turned upon Beauty

the puny

light

of their immobile recognition

made moonвБ†вАФflowers

out of muck

and things desired

out of their tenuous soulвБ†вАФstuff

Until the Ruling Bluff

demanded a hellвБ†вАФfull

of labour

for half a bellyвБ†вАФfull

So did the mongrelвБ†вАФgirl

of NomanвАЩs land

coerce the shy

Spirit of Beauty

from excrements and physicвБ†вАФ

While Esau of Ridover Square

absorbs the erudite idea

that Beauty is nowhere

except posthumously to itself

in the antique

And trains

the common manifestations

of creation

to flatten

before his eyes

to one vast monopattern

Marriage Boxes

Oh God

That men and women

having undertaken to vanquish one another

should be allowed

to shut themselves up

in hot boxes

and breed

Spirits of prey

ceaselessly

on the watch

in their cruel privacy

Seizing upon occasion

for crippling the personal

to test the law of the craftiest for survival

with that innate will to emerge victorious

present in every human enterprise

until at last the vanquished mate

dies

of modification

The days

of the Penfolds and the Exodi

in their respective roles

drip into years

with that perilous

multiplication of petty shocks

so much advertised

against

by the American manufacturers

of indiaвБ†вАФrubber soles

To the Penfolds

Culture has thrown

its bone

of contention

for the passions to chew on

вАФso that they shall not howl and biteвБ†вАФ

Each one is in the right

according to a different school of accepted philosophy

and eventually

they subside

into the preвБ†вАФpolemical silence

of creation

Under the virginia creeper

creeping over

the ExodusвАЩ

home

the shocks of

intimate impact

of the instinctive

murderer and pamperer

of Jesus

rattle its sockets

Exodus has nothing but his pockets

to impress

his rabid rose

of the hedges

while for her redress

she can flaunt the whole of England in his foreign face

It would please us

to look upon this face of Exodus

for it is exceeding beautiful

but this means nothing to the undutiful

woman

she being

exceedingвБ†вАФ

short sighted

All forms are the same nought to her

only she had gathered from her literature

that men ought to be fair

and as all women

who have not got the world to choose from

marry

in an hallucinatory

conviction

that the best man they can get

will yet

redye his soul in the matrimonial

vats

of constant suasion

to the requisite tintвБ†вАФ

She suffered a savage irritation

that this jew

should not invest himself automatically

with her prejudices of a superior

insulation

at the merest hintвБ†вАФ

Psychic Larva

The head

of the child of Exodus

вАФreaches

to the level

of an abdominal

moroseness

вАФThe moronic womb

from which

we gather our involuntary flesh

hovers

antagonistically

over the child at motherвАЩs knee

And erodes her

with psychic-larva

from an eruptional impotence

of offenseвБ†вАФ

вАФrolling upon her

To the mother

the bloodвБ†вАФrelationship

is a terrific indictment of the flesh

under cover

of clothing

and furnishing

вАЬsomebodyвАЭ has sinned

and their sin

вАФa living witness of the flesh

swarms with inquisitive eyes

resenting

the lasting

presence of a vile origin

There is no liberation

from this inversion

of instinct

making subliminal depredations

on OvaвАЩs brain

She is overshadowed

by the motherвАЩs aura

of subвБ†вАФcarnal anger

restringent to the pores

of her skinвБ†вАФ

which opening

like leaves for rain

crave for caressings

soft as wings

Lacking dictionaries

of inner consciousnessвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

unmentionable stigmata

is stamped

by the parentвАЩs solarвБ†вАФplexus

in disequilibrium

on the offspringвАЩs

intuition

ChristвАЩs Regrettable Reticence

Ova is at the mercy

of the enigmatical behaviour

around her

only One behaves

unlike all others

the gentle Jesus

whose unseen behaviour

like a mouse or a fairy

in lurking discretion

is the wary

perfection

of a shy saviour

вАЬOh why wouldnвАЩt the Gentle

come out

вАФinto the open

and just show them?вАЭ

Yet she loves the Gentle

вАЬPerhaps if he knew there

was a dear little girl here

who wouldnвАЩt hurt him

вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФif he came out?вАЭ

For a pale

pitiful housemaid

who bowed

healingly

between

her

and the loud

maternityвБ†вАФ

Has told her

ofвБ†вАФGentle Jesus

our excuseвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

He dipped his hand in the sauceвБ†вАФtureen

and allowed his disciples to do the same

And that for every infantile

indiscretion

there is absolution

in ChristвАЩs name

And she

is credulous

as all hungry

imaginations in Man

swallow the parsimonious

presentations put before them

Enter Colossus

About this time

in an Alpine

summer resort

The male fruit

of a Celtic couple

is baptized

Colossus

And the first time

that ever he sits up

devouring his pap

It is as if a pillar of iron

erects him

in place of a spine

And the first time

he opens his eyes

wittinglyвБ†вАФ

вАЩTis like an eagle

soaring on the sun

and the first time

he communes within himself

he decides

All words are lies

His gracious little ladyвБ†вАФbird

of a mamma

dresses him in velvet suits

of gentian blue

determined she will do

her best to keep him

a little gentleman

like his ancestors

even

if he does not live in

London

Her idea of rearing a son

is showing him to everyone

in the drawingвБ†вАФroom

for them to praise him

which idea is rather distorted

by the little one

throwing the teaвБ†вАФpot

at M Follilot

because her top-knot

displeases him so

And who

would care to call at

any house

on finding the young master in the hall

pissing into our reverend pastorвАЩs hat?

He like so many of us

has his own sense of fun

and when his governess offers him a bun

вАЬBring me a bifsteek de femme

вАФ

and under done!вАЭ

These women run

in all directions

when he appears

This palpable

evidence of his motherвАЩs

unfortunately

having given birth to a criminal

вАФ

Postures of a monster

coincident

with the Christian

introspection

of Ova

Ova. Among. The. Neighbours.

(The drama of)

a human consciousness

(played to the inattentive audience

of the Infinite)

gyrates

on the egoвБ†вАФaxis

intoxicates

with the cosmic

proposition of being it

вАФ

Till the inconsiderate

competitional

brunt

of its similars

informs it

of several millions

вАЬpulling the same stuntвАЭ

this consciousness within her

uncurled itself upon the rollers of objective experience

printing impressions

vaguely and variedly

upon Ova

In place of the more formulate education

coming naturally

to the units of a national instigation

вАФ

New Life

when it inserts itself into continuity

is disciplined

by the family

reflection

of national construction

to a proportionate posture

in the civilized scheme

deriving

definite contours

from tradition

personality

being mostly

a microcosmic

replica

of institutions

Indigenous neighbours

before their hearths

pile up their Gods

вАФsightless and mindlessвБ†вАФ

but still the Gods

of an indigenous clay

Something

dumb

but doubtless

is being accomplished

by the quotidian inspiration

towards frustration

of all

other clays

of EarthвАЩs conception

And to each

inhabitant of the crudest streets

is allotted the pride

of controlling the tide

of seas

that he has never set eyes upon

but hears

are his

Suburban children

of middleвБ†вАФclass Britain

ejected from the home

are still connected

with the inseverable

navelвБ†вАФcord of the motherвБ†вАФland

and

need never feel alone

And if this tepid flesh

of uniвБ†вАФconscious islanders

feels no particular passion

towards its propagations

it knows

that each is integral

to that removed

yet irremovable

rose

and rejoices in them only symbolically

for if one should not defer

his opinions to his flower

of utter chivalry

he is cut off utterly

вАЬExcept ye become as a little childвАЭ

the lord was heard when upon earth

to sayвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвАФit is inferredвБ†вАФ

that he preferredвБ†вАФ

an Idiot child from birth

There is no other clime

where nurseries bloom

so luxuriantly

so вАЬover timeвАЭ

as in England

where ardentlyвБ†вАФ

adults

вАФanxiously

concoct a lunacy

of flippant fallacy

for innocence

And the meticulous

punctualities

of fresh air and milk

mix

with the coloured imbecilities

exaltedвБ†вАФ

illustratedвБ†вАФ

for childrenвАЩs libraries

O may the hotвБ†вАФhouse purityвБ†вАФ

essence

of English childhoodвБ†вАФ

prolong itself

into autumnal adolescenceвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

O may the fuddled blue

of the imperial eye

forgetвБ†вАФmeвБ†вАФnotвБ†вАФitself

in distinct conceptions

of functional existence

O may it muddle through

bright with its bland taboo

from the nursery to the cemetery

Amen

Ova Has Governesses

Ova

knows none of these

pretty artifices

of happy nurseries

for foisting illusive sops

on the untamable brute

called Life

For her

the irredeemable anaemia

of hour upon hour

devoid

of invitation to vitality

drifts through her arteries

Changed to her MotherвАЩs vagaries

her Nurses and governesses

pinchвБ†вАФfaced conservatives

respect Life

they let it alone

lest it discomfort them

before the awful comfort of the grave

save them

They have none of the

elite audacity

to tease its slumberous ferocity

with a felicitous humour

that sets

it at defiance

They never accompany

its growls

with clarinettes

She is laid

in LondonвАЩs underвБ†вАФlap

of unutterable lapidary

вАФpersistance

of pavements into distance

The grey air

stricken with trees

whose vernal hair

is spoiled with soot

The flux of Life she

flows on

of gruesome

inner and outer architecture

and dingy damask

A twilit turbulence

of routine in coma

shot

with stranded rockets

of curative colour

The ghoulish clouds

hide God

who should

have made the world

a musicalвБ†вАФbox

of coloured glass

growing like gillyвБ†вАФflowers

and PhloxвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

with butterflyвБ†вАФwinged

cherubim

warbling in

lowвБ†вАФbranched fruit trees

Jews and Ragamuffins of Kilburn

But she goes

shopping in

вАФkillвБ†вАФburnвБ†вАФ

вАФ

she knows

itвБ†вАФnamed for its pavement lid of hellвБ†вАФвБ†вАКвБ†вАФ

here dwell

haberdashers

they scare her

with adventures

of dashing rabbitвБ†вАФhares

Gingerly Nurse

lifts her nose

because

in Kilburn are so many Jews

She fears to find them crawling up her socks

but hears

the Jews killed Jesus

and are bound for Hades

with rвБ†вАФвБ†oвБ†вАФвБ†uвБ†вАФвБ†nвБ†вАФвБ†d noses

Here where the common children swarm

вАФwho choose

chillblains and chaps

and fluted shoes

and shout вАЬGaaвБ†вАФвБ†aarвБ†вАФвБ†rnвАЭ

One

wearing

a straggling

lambsвАЩвБ†вАФwool

tippet

tied in front

with a tag of pink tape

and at the back

her plait

humps itself over it

kneels

in a queer

position

of sideway struggle

Her leg has slipped

between the spear

headed palings

growing

a trap

on the crude depth

of an empty area

.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.¬†.

Ova fears

вАФвБ†вАКвАФThat she can never

release it

iron is so hard

that even the strongest man in the world

could

never bend it

Ova bearsвБ†вАФ

horror for this child

caught in a novel hell

of immovable metal

which is eternal

вАЬHold up your chinвАЭ

nurse says вАЬyou begin

to walk like a horrid ragamuffinвАЭ

The common children

have the best of her

вАФthough dressed in

ragsвБ†вАФThey feed on muffin

The Surprise

The things the armoured towers

tell

are not quite real

The things they do

never вАЬhappenвАЭ

only their actions

convince

on those occasions

when they blow up

and scatter her reason

Sometimes

a level shaft of sweetness

cleaves

the irate thunder

Miss Bunn

whose face of a china doll

has taken on a

significance

of foolish intelligence

that children love so well

who performs

the duties of a clown

and whose doorвБ†вАФbell

is so low down

often invited to come

cajoles

chaos to laughter

seldom heard in this home

and only

in company

as a disguise for thunder

вАЬIf you be good girl or boy

as I suppose you be

you will neither laugh nor smile

at the tickling of your kneeвАЭ

She brings

a surprise basket

full

of Japanese fishes

of cotton wool

вАЬWe will not tell

Miss BunnвАЭ

says father

вАЬwhat we have done

peeping in the basketвАЭ

In the evening

the armoured towers are sitting

round the surprise

вАФThey look as if they will not be sitting there longвБ†вАФ

They ask itвБ†вАФ

вАЬHave you peeped in the basket?вАЭ

Ova looking

partakingly at the father

anxious not to do wrong

вАЬNoвАЭ

вАЬHoвАЭ

Snaps the father

вАЬyou opened that surprise

under my eyesвАЭ

Jumping out of chairs

вАЬLiarвАЭ

makes a lot of noise

She is turned into a liar

by father

They push her

out of the front door with their hands

Her head expands

There is nothing

she knows how to expect from these big bodies

who hustle her through demeaning duties

in humiliation

and without animation

A coolness rising

from the rainy gravel

dampвБ†вАФsmelling friendliness of the dark

allays her

sudden fever

She has left behind her

forever

Liar

whatever

it is

and Japanese fishes

She decides to travel

A hand upon her shoulder

jolts her

with mocking laughter

bolts her

to smoulder

once more

behind the door

Illumination

Ova is standing

alone in the garden

The highвБ†вАФskies

have come gently upon her

and all their

steadfast light is shining out of her

She is conscious

not through her body

but through space

This saintвАЩsвБ†вАФprize

this

indissoluble bliss

to be carried like a forgetfullness

into the long nightmare

Contraction

She is contracting

to the enveloping

plasm of uneasiness

in which she is involved with the big bodies

The garden

the childвАЩs

first place of purity

is become defiled

an egg is smashed

a horrible

aborted contour

a yellow murder

in a viscous pool

She knows not Time yet

it lies there

for a thousand years

of return

to puzzle

over a defrauded race of chickens

pecking the gravel in unconcern

The Gift

Somewhat above the level

of the entrailed anger

of the mother

the pockets of the Father

invisibleвБ†вАФ

depth

вАФinterminable

from whence spring riches

and a sullen

economic

war

houses and food and fire

proceed from them

and over them

he crows continually

Proximity

to OvaвАЩs skulled mentality

of money

which magically

is life

He tells her

he is a good Father

his child must obey him

should he choose to do so

he can bestow

upon her

whatever she pray him

Heseems a sovereign

the maximum

of money

A golden octopus

grasping

She is asking

for a sovereign

to buy a circus

universe

Laughing

he gives her a shining coin

She is exalted

in spontaneous knowledge of beauty

She confronts the solution of her destiny

and sudden the potentiality

of achievement

through her august parent

вАЬI will buy вАШall thisвАЩ my sovereign

The flower seller

is bewilderedвБ†вАФ

Nurse distrusts

She thrusts

out the open nacreous palm of her hand

that they may understand

вАЬGaвАСaarn

вАФyou little fool

whoвАЩre you a gittin at?

ThatвАЩs

a new farthing!вАЭ

She comes

to a curbвБ†вАФstone

a woman is sitting upon

beyond

a rampant radiance

Of April jonquil

Gala yellow

FaвБ†вАФhow evil a Father must be

to burst a universe

by getting

so faвБ†вАФr into a sovereign

Ova Accepts the Popular Estimate of Humanity

Press the cerebellum

into phantom

moulds of idealism

and no matter

what ocular

and intellectual contact with phenomena

occurвБ†вАФ

Grey matter

is addled forever

Ova accepts Christ

as the sacrificial

prototype

of the laboriously elect

sect

notwithstanding

that the maternal christian

is inflicting

Him upon her

as a spiritual bludgeon

threateningвБ†вАФ

And the vaguely disgusting

inquietudes of the flesh surrounding

her

she also accepts

as she is bidden

as hidden

immortalities

that ripen

for divine destinies

Religious Instruction

In mixed marriages

it is mostly the custom

for female children

to adhere to the maternal religion

While the Father

presides over

the mystical prattle

with ironical

commentary

from his armвБ†вАФchair

But by whichever

religious route

to brute

reality

our forebears speed us

(Perfection

being an obligation

shoved on to

the next generation)

There is always a pair

of idle adult

accomplices in duplicity

to impose upon their brood

ideals

erected upon such increate altitudes

that Man

in falling from contemplation

of a more simulacrum

has soused himself (in blood

since Time began)

Jehovah

вАФexemplar par excellence

of megalomaniaвБ†вАФ

the Whole Old Testament

of butcherly chastisement

to coerce humanity

to an вАЬassumed acceptanceвАЭ

of an abstract idea

And that Christ

came with his light

of toilless lilies

to say

вАЬFear

not

it is IвАЭ

And bowed the ocean tossed

вАФwith a poetвАЩs feet

which being dead

are suspended overвБ†вАФhead

neatвБ†вАФ

ly crossed

in anguish

and wounded with red

varnish

From these

slowвБ†вАФdrying bloods of mysticism

mysteriously

the somethingвБ†вАФsoul emerges

miserably

an instinct (of economy)

in every race

for reconstructing debris

has planted a face

in outer darkness

The lonely peering eye

of humanity

вАФ

вАФand turned away

OvaвАЩs consciousness

impulsive to commit itself to justice

вАФto arise and walk

its innate

straight way

out of the

accidence of circumstance

collects the levitate chattels

of its will

and makes for the

magnetic horizon of liberty

with the soulвАЩs foreverlasting

opposition

to disintegration

So this child of Exodus

with her heritage of emigration

often

вАЬsets out to seek her fortuneвАЭ

in her turn

trusting to terms of literature

dodging the breedersвАЩ determination

not to return вАЬentities sent on consignmentвАЭ

by their maker Nature

except in a condition

of moral

effacement

Lest Paul and Peter

never

notice the creatures

ever had had Fathers

and Mothers

They were disgraced in their duty

should such spirits

take an express passage

through the family bodies

to arrive at Eternity

as lovely

as they originally

promised

So on whatever day

she chooses вАЬto run awayвАЭ

the very

street corners of Kilburn

close in upon Ova

to deliver her

into the hands of her procreators

Oracle of civilization

вАЬThou shalt not live by dreams alone

but by every discomfort

that proceedeth out of

legislationвБ†вАФ

The Social Status of Exodus

Out of the hands of God

the aboriginal

muscle-pattern

with its ominously

cruciform completion

in view of propagation

indulged its uniform

imputation

of the image and likeness

of DeityвБ†вАФ

вАФ

to satiety

and through varying civilizations

experimented in deformations

of contour

while fashion

and fanaticism disputed

with passion

the incompatibility

with his dignity

of exposing man

to the contemplation

of the insignia

of his origin

and continuity

Theological tinkers

and serious thinkers

attacked the problem

of dissubstantiation

вАФ

Some said

вАЬIt were better to cast it off from us utterlyвАЭ

And some took a plank of wood and set it

about with nails

and lay upon it

saying

вАЬThis will make us forget itвАЭ

Spiritual drapers

Popes and fakirs and shakers

decked it

out with oblivion

and let it

appear

to disappear

But to no effect

For men of a happyвБ†вАФgoвБ†вАФlucky vulgarity

relegated

this jewвБ†вАФjaw of general invective

to a hole and corner secretive

popularity

And absurd

as it may seem

the вАЬunprintable wordвАЭ

is impossible to erase from a vocabulary

And there arose another

greater than Jehovah

The Tailor

вАФ

вАФthe stitches of whose seams

He is unworthy to unloose

Out of the hands of Exodus

the Oxonian

seeming

a sunbeam that has chanced to stray

into a cutвБ†вАФaway

(Gentlemen

wear

clothes

with an easy air

of debonair

inevitability)

Clothed and shod

the tailorвАЩs concept of the man made God

(Sartorial peril of the yellow race

looking so out of place)

peoples the sod

вАФ

Under the shears

of the prestidigitator cutter

(who achieves

the unachievable Act of the Apostles)

the cruciform scourge

of conscience

disappearsвБ†вАФ

in utter

bifurcate dissimulation

leaving

only those inevitable yet more or less circumspect

creasings

in the вАЬlatest thing in trouseringsвАЭ

вАФor serge

And man

at last assumes his selfвБ†вАФrespect

And man with his amorphous nature

who defied

the protoform of Who made him

but has not denied

Him

obeyed

the tailor who remade him

and denies him

He is despised

this ostracized

fancier of travestied torsoes

weaver of figвБ†вАФleaves out of cheviot

who staked the plot

of manhood in his nobler form

The gently born

they turn away

from the tailor

Who knows?

вАЬMan that is born of womanвАЭ

Perhaps he chose

an occupation all too feminine

вАФ

Neither is this the reason that they give

(Thou shalt not look upon the face of God and live!)

Poetr...

Poetry

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