V

If you’d care to think of it now:

A forest made of hair

An undergrowth so dense

No hound can bay through it

or ,

The kids giggle quietly

But you cant see them;

They snuggle in shadows

But their eyes hold milk

That drips amid the trees,

That, you can see.

Their bodies’ sheen

Like the oiliness of a magpie;

They flit through the forest

Like droves of magpies

Of magpies,

I was once told:

1 for despair

2 for joy

3 for a girl

4 for a boy

5 for silver

6 for gold

7 seven for a secret never to be told

Secrets and truths

Wan and green

Buried like sunken forests,

Their forms fan out in the tide

Until little baby darkness

Collapses in pieces

Pierced by light

So terrible

I don’t care to think of it,

Face crusted over with sleep;

No crown rends my dull brow

All thorns are dulled by quiet

And God lay there:

With the white languor of a woman

Expecting neutral company

Or guests that would hover

And say nothing, but smile

And look upwards

God was covered in petals;

The roses and violets of horror

But smiled as if nothing was wrong

These days

Which we forever think about

These days

No forest remains

But a beach:

Licked and sucked by the ocean

The beach like a set of feeble gums

To suck and slurp at the ocean;

The beach like a sick mouth

Hanging open, yawning

The kids crashed together

Gnashed their teeth

Burning in garish light

Lolling in the frothing foam

Of that dissolving strand

Smashing one another

Like a fool banging symbols

God sat alone in the dunes

Smiling; his legs crossed

And back bent:

He might be watching

The kids rolling in the sea

But it might only be

Oil shining on a puddle

And if the kids

Hurt so deeply

Why did God smile

When they ran to him

Out of the sea

Up the shore

Little paws held up

With their bird’s confusion

And absurd sorrow?

He didn’t understand

Or didn’t care to think of it,

He just smiled

with eyes like stained glass

The kids ran on the beach

And God raised his head

Slowly and ponderously

Like a great dog

Watching the distant interest

Drift across those sands

God rose and followed them

The sands slid from beneath him

God stumbled and staggered

When he reached the kids

They were squatting

In the carrion sand

Their faces to the dirt

They dug the sand

Until brine began

Pooling in the hole

it made a sound like

"*suck*"

The kids raised their faces to God,

To say: "Nothing gets out alive"

Breathing a chaos stronger than creation,

Their faces true bone carvings of hatred

They held shovels in their hands

And held roses in their teeth

They beat him until he was dead

And dragged his body to where

The waves lipped the shore

I don’t care about any of it

I cant be bothered at all

Today I wont wake up

All parts of me flowing away

Draped in slithering silks

I am marvelously pomp

Will I work today?

No, I will only smoke

The moonlight sifted down complacently

God’s body lay in the lapping tide

Years passed and it sank into the sand

There are barks of thunder

And invisible gasping clouds

Surely it is a time for umbrellas

Sincerely,

Jamie