Strange Things Happen

Strange Things Happen


1.

The door between
miracle and ruin
is always left ajar;

when the night
is in the grip of rain,
the poem slides down my hand
and fractures the floor,

beneath
lie the remains
of vampires and pirate ships

the sapphire beak of a bird
glows in the thin space
between you and I,

and the door, the door…
it quavers ever so slightly.

2.

White panthers in the waterfall,
their hunger echoes
among the hills

their hunger has the sound
of ten blue xylophones

flesh and stone
argue inside my hair and I resort to prayers…

time strips me of my clothes

Dinner is ready, and the song is tender.

3.

A sky of crocodile skin
greets me at dawn

I hide inside your night dress
and pray
for the war to end

“The lepers are singing again”,
you say,
“they are singing to the sun”

I look with longing at my thumb
and anoint it with oils,

like earth’s last hero,
I sacrifice my thumb to the leather sky,

and hide deeper
inside your manuscript of coal and dreams.


4.

So many years now,
so many stories
and pieces of midnight jazz;

these days,
when I speak,
only werewolves respond,

and you,
my lady of the gold mines,
you seem to have lost
your strange lust for salvation.

Tell me,
does music still remind you
of love and imaginary volcanoes?

does the sight of water
remind you of beautiful poets?


5.

it’s been a month
since the third world war began,

newspapers don’t reach here daily,
and the women
sell coffins and folk records

you choose this scenario
to smoke your leaves

you choose to call upon
an old mistress
to undress before you and fondle your ego

you choose to call a hot air balloon
and you survey the city
with a woman in your arms,
folk songs in your ears,

and brutal, dazzling ghosts in your mouth.


6.

with a flick of my finger,
the room changes colour

it becomes a chamber of trial,
and everyone pleads with the spider

for a while, I live on stolen time
my face pale, my mouth dry,
and my empire frozen;

almost half a century passes this way…

…in the end
the spider offers a grin,

the mutants are forgiven,
the room fills with a jungle scent,

and strange things happen.




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