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.