Mongrel Rose
Ada Gives Birth to Ova
Her face
screwed
to the mimic-salacious
grotesquerie of a pain
larger than her intellect
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
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
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
Till the least godmother
pipes
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
in her fairy way
вАЬPerhaps you know my name
вАФ
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
I
Feeling his need for such a book as this
I wrote the вАЬInfant AestheteвАЭ for
my little Esau
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
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
II
In Kilburn terrace
if you know where that is?
вАФ
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
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
A
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
ly
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
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
вАФ
вАФ
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
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
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
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
looked into the Néant
вАФ
вАФand turned away
X
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
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
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
вАФ
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
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
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
вАФ
Neither is this the reason that they give
(Thou shalt not look upon the face of God and live!)