"Thread"
Under the sign of the alphabet
the rain fell up the
bodies in the quarry spoke
of the Lord’s great hunger
and the Lord’s blackened tongue
and they chanted the secret
names of the Lord
one by one
And the rain fell up the
bodies in the quarry danced
and the sky filled with sand
the color of rust
The blind boys sang
and the dead men danced
and the deaf men heard their chants
- Michael Palmer -
Dearest Reader, by Michael Palmer
He painted the mountain over and over again
from his place in the cave, agape
at the light, its absence, the mantled
skull with blue-tinted hollows, wren-
like bird plucking berries from the fire
her hair alight and so on
lemon grass in cafe in clear glass.
Dearest reader there were trees
formed of wire, broad entryways
beneath balconies beneath spires
youthful head come to rest in meadow
beside bend in gravel road, still
body of milky liquid
her hair alight and so on
successive halls, flowered carpets and doors
or the photograph of nothing but pigeons
and grackles by the shadow of a fountain.
—-
“Instantly, the Fleet shot forward, across the field and up into the perfect noonday sky.”
—Michael Palmer, from Flashback (thanks, yameux)The Comet
Michael Palmer
“An outlook based upon philosophy became obligatory.” - Bruno Schulz
That year the end of winter stood under a sign
All days were red in the margin
writ large against the ochre rooftops
and yes that was your father’s
face, a murder best forgotten
by passerby inured to the dust
though blinded a bit by the redness
Invisible charges rose
in the poles, only
to enclose them, a parody of juggling
within the lap of eternal matter
like love c. mid-afternoon
eyes half-open, adjustments
at an unexpected point of the experiment
occurred toward the backstage of things
warm
currents of air and some really
depressing tricks that filled one
with true melancholy
regarding principium individuationis
suitable more to the success of an idea
in an illustrated journal
of modern physics
splendidly bogus
and immediately satisfying
as forecast long ago by the prophets
in a circus farce
