One part earth, three parts water
And they ask of me to be Man.
Man of sea, Man of plunder
The conquerer of lands, far and wide
The wooer of fair mermaidens
The polluter of water and mind.
One part greed, three parts malice
And they say sympathize with Man.
Man of labour, man of sweat
The blunt belligerent barbarian
The philanderer, spinner of tales
The drinker of toddy, gin and ale.
One part mule, three parts fodder
And they ask me to unite with Man.
Man of culture, highest brow.
The equation and the experiment;
The puppeteer and the puppets;
The pieces of paper stacked up.
One part promise, three parts show
And they ask me to think like Man.
Nature's favourite child.
Made in her own image.
Carried in the water of her womb
And fed the bread of her body.
One part earth, three parts water
Was the way it had all begun
One part flesh, three parts carcass
Is the sum of everything left by Man.
***
bodies of water / part human, part ether / we are rivers / flowing / out into the lands of wrongdoing / we wash the sins off our hands until the earth is bloodied / the earth soaks it up, hungry / devours us / whatever is left of us / carcasses for vultures to gnaw / detritus for fungi to feed on / what was fluid, what was not / my genes do not know / my cells do not remember / how do you search for a memory in the ocean of time / the boxes are too rigid / you won't ever fit into them / undo yourself / remake
***
Headlong into myself
My skates Yin and Yang
The painter of the pottery
The chiseler of the stone
Born of fire I smother
The burning comet’s apogee
The clock with hands of mist
The calendar inscribed in the soil
Darkness upon darkness
The fallen peacock angel’s blessing
The energy in the roots of the Sidrat tree
Life the rail and Death the gap
Headlong into myself