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).