mummified arm Indonesian
sailor skin
boxed in glass and lead

call it James

arm is fine

art:        GOLDEN DRAGONS

H O L D        F A S T    fingers

to        FULL RIGGED H.M.S.


ROOSTER AND PIG
can’t swim








                    • • •








sleep imperiled

on the sea

forge immutable

friendships

which will become

ink on the knees

held to our chins

during the peril

of departure

dreams of losing teeth diminish as

sea calls aspiration

into question

left with a head of words

we cheat to speak

yours truly,

James








                    • • •








young gulls have landed

upon his effigy

fuse wires in his sleep

where he is bound

blue effluvium

Vedic aum

of imperishable

syllables whirl

the blood








                    • • •








pocket knife in robotic hand

James cuts leaves of French pages

in nailed down chair








                    • • •








phosphorescent plankton

plume the night sea

night watcher

with bartered needle

inks the backs of his hands

in Greek










Sources

The Clouds Float North: The Complete Poems of Yu Xuanji, Translated by David Young and Jiann I. Lin, Wesleyan University Press/University Press of New England, 1998

Love and the Turning Year: One Hundred More Poems From the Chinese, Translated by Kenneth Rexroth, New Directions, 1970.

Su Tung-P’o, Translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press, 1965.