There is a wall

I run again

There is a wall

I have confined myself

to this one emotion

& now allow none

other

So hot it gets some nights

like fission spells

 

 

Her plastic parts have
                      melted

The metal parts are
                      soldering

The rubber parts are
                      oozing

The wooden
                      is burning

into shady ash

The air is whisking
               up into a
                      devil storm

 

 

I want to breathe

but the air is gone

   They held hands
                  & became
               paper dolls

sucked into a storm

like poetry writing itself

with silly fingers

An anatomy of

melancholy

 

I drive you with ideas

I tell you all of them

the whispered ones

those caught between
numbers
noughts

those that are accomplices

I saw you on a t.v.
screen

You were talking with
           your mouth full

of diamante-studded silver
                                                    zebras

 

With emerald eyes

In the midst of this

In the midst of this

I write in fear
                of words
          & your breathing

Show me how it’s done

I corrosive
                  zebedee
          cilit bang

on shine course

angel how ricket

 

 

lose me swarm kite

oblivion    jewel    ponitifcate

dip       dip         dip

                               dip

                               dip

Colossus      dip

Fury

Ebb    & flow
Ebb    & flow
   Ebb & flow
Ebb &

 

 

How many ways do I scorn thee?

She had many answers

I held on dearly

  to remembrance

& longing

To the skies we share

I let helium birds fly

Hoping you would see them

I pulled out each one

 

 

of my fingernails

laid them in a
heart-shaped box

to send to you

My fingernails have
               grown back

Now long & curved

Lose me, Akhtar I am lost

 

§

 

 

The Rape of Nanking by Men, Comforted by Rape

 

(December 13, 1937) In Nanking, an exhibition
Of atrocities (China) that cannot even be whispered
Out loud (w-a-r) waged by man (to win) for
Man to (win), to rise victors, trooping colours
Over territory captured, only (How did)
Human Body become territory (how does)

Battlefield    become    Woman    Body;

“anyonecanunderstandthatthesystemofcomfort
WOMEN(Mayor of Osaka)was n-e-c-e-s-s-a-r-y
to provide r-e-s-p-i-t-eforagroupof high-strung,
rough&tumble (a pride of cocks) ‘men’ bravingtheir
‘lives’(2013)underastormofbullets”

On Dec 13, 1937 in Nanking, an exhibition
Of (China) atrocities; in preparation, those
Girls (girlchild in the dark) pinioned (200,000), you
Assailed, you tore out of their safe havens, homes, you
stole their lives, to create you say
A System Of                             trofmoc
                                   trofmoc
   trofmoc                    (Your w-a-r IS
with Woman) ANYONE(?)canunderstand(?)

It suffocates to utter trofmoc
murmur, it chokes trofmoc; spit

C    O    M    F   O   R   T

Woman, (who) comfort you?

fortheoperationof(MEAT MACHINE; THE)
w-a-ritisacceptable&necessaryto
 
Violate
 
Theveryhumanrightofthe
mostsociallyvulnerable: FEMALE
                                                 Adult ☑
                                                 Child ☑

It is the very significance of
Woman, you sought to extinguish
Her structure, you anatomized her
assemblage, you dissevered
Her essentia. You sliver. stomp. stomp.
stomp.                       stomp.

Butchers, you whetting your tools
Parading your flags (on)Woman
Body, the ceremonial
Battlefield is. girl.body.child.body.
body anyone
                           girlchildwoman  *threat*
anyonecanunderstand.

In Nanking, an exhibition (20,000) of
Atrocity(child). Explicit(elders)
Mutilation(anyone Can)Systematic
(woman)Violation (anyone can)(understand)

                                Raped.to.Death.to
                                raped.to.deathraped to

                                Death.
                                Woman, (who) comfort you?

In Nanking (                 ).

 

§

 

Note: During World War II, Japanese soldiers kidnapped young girls aged 11 to 16 mostly from South Korea and China, forcing them to be their sex-slaves, called “comfort women:. Most of the women are long dead, but a few remain to tell their story and are still waiting for some kind of apology. In 2014, the Mayor of Osaka made a statement about how “comfort women”, were necessary. During this same war, one of the most horrific war-time brutalizations of women took place – The Nanking Massacre – also by the Japanese. In my poem, I wanted to address this relationship. This poem was part of an Against Rape project edited by Michelle Mcgrane on Peony Moon.

 

§

 

“[There is a wall]” is from 199 Japanese Names For Japanese Trees (Shearsman, 2016).