Vivien Eime
In Time &
other short poems
Two
Seasons
© 1996 by Vivien Eime and gangan books australia
in time
hurry the day when
i may be out of the race
say what i like
spit peas out at night.
perhaps this time will be gold
methinks if it were
my heart would breathe at last
my tears might be less and
my shoulder more able
refuse to drip blood
and do not ooze
stay within me so i may
be thicker with myself.
herald
the brightest light
flies ahead, calling
back as the avant-garde.
the mass of strength
trusts her sight and
follows faithfully
as she holds her
heraldry responsibly.
a glimmer to begin and
the mass to cover the
wake.
a lump too bulky
i gather the falls of my life
and make a pile; a lump too
bulky to kick along this endless dusty road.
with a shiver of power
a candle lit is added,
innocent only seconds before.
the lick of fire creates
waxen tears as the felled pile erupts.
through the flames
the road is clear.
first slipper
leaf claws extend from the stump of a frangipani arm
as i walk beneath the moon's first slipper;
evening frost of a sunfilled day dampens my skin;
touching my cheek brings me back into my surrounds.
i am reminded of the earth as it spins
the reality of asphalt
the intrusion of traffic lights
the harsh treatment of mind over body
and the simplicity of my heart.
how desperately i try to control my tears.
clutching my clothes to gain strength to overcome
a wrenching need to pour my eyes away completely.
a cool instruction binding me closed:
be calm
relax
and don't be sad.
her
i don't know how to speak of her.
not strange as she has no words of her own.
objectively though, you'd think there was
a chance to have her stated, even blankly;
for one crushed -- just existing.
we even know the cause of extinguishment
-- time and circumstance the assassin --
what is that though but dough for baking
into bread -- cut spread and eaten, it passes
through to become process unto its own extinction.
on from the meal of recognition lies choice.
arise from the table, clear implements,
place all right and know it is complete.
a stage; a section; a feast of self.
or, hover 'mongst the mess of preparation
stagnate with prey eaten; sigh with satiation
and fall slothlike into sleep and dream.
Uninspiring? yes, it is. i agree.
so there are no words to describe her
except, perhaps, she still lives.
scarlet woman
i once clenched my jaw and proffered
my chin never wincing as the pincers
gripped and pulled.
the lips that were ground with
another pair accepted any pain as necessary to endure.
but tonight i will proffer my jaw
unclenched; will wait to feel the
pincers lose interest.
tonight the razor edge of
discovery will slash away
the other pair of lips
which bind me to pain.
i shall wrench myself
free with one slash.
one bright red slash.
'tis a vision of the
pool of blood which
spurs me on.
to emerge smeared and sinewed
to the surface. wait for
the reddish veil to slip
and see sights clear.
decision
a cry in the inner sanctum
a corridor out
step quickly into it
and out
you see the door -- its open!
now -- OUT.
and don't turn back,
for if you do you'll see
the screamer;
have a thought to
reach back in and
save her
but she'll be running
to slam the door
and your arm shall be caught
snap.
the importance of punctuation
the sound of a bass voice:
a true connection to the
inky black from which we squirt.
should we say sir?
should we say madam.
and the bass booms:
in the black, people,
address does not matter.
remember only your end
in fullstop.
viewing humanity
by the light of a distant star
a great heard viewed from a distance
hears a scream issue forth.
their heads incline and, intent,
their feet shuffle as they
whisper who its it? who screams?
yes. yes? others mutter and why.
it is one of their own, one
who has left her washed clothes dripping
and views humanity from afar.
to be struck down dead
i do not wish to die
-- of course --
but to be struck down dead.
to have a javelin crack gunshot
cleave my shirt into a crimson soak;
hear a shrill ring build until
i fall bent to my knees as
the grey sponge bursts.
to leave in a band
instead of a
wheezing
choir.
when
is the most demanding voice I have
when cold fictual mass en masse emerges.
over short or long, traversed or un,
above the ready world I sit alone to consider
I am an innately selfish creature and
there are oh so many more of me.
true, with a desire -- even though 'tis only
an inkling -- toward generosity.
ah -- but this I see is trace of survival
immaturity.
behold the species and be brave.
she will smile
a slim juggler of buttered curls
attempting to ignore a
temporary existence
bites at specific points
in her self made arcs.
no time to pine
whilst she remains in action
fear not the motion
as it is self which propels.
the feet are firmly planted after all.
Two Seasons
cacklehoned
spring. in the sun. lying on grass with my twin skin next to me.
close next to me. watching wispy clouds relating stories in 3-d.
mermaids meet dragons clasp hands to dissipate into a wishing well
with 2 jills and no jack. modern times. modern stories.
is it true that butterflies evolve from caterpillars and live for
a week? crawl through winter to fly into spring. only for a week?
or was it only for a day. do i remember a day or a week. would
they?
i feel the grass on my back, imagine myself long only eating
eating eating eating until a silent call urges me to coil my long
self into a ball. coocooned and waiting. imagine.
rolling over now to begin the coil and come face to face with my
twin skin. out of my imagination -- out of my coocoon -- face to
face. me and my twin skin touching front to front. eyes an inch
from eyes noses receding from the pressure breast to breast hips
hipped knees and feet balancing. i wonder why i don't fall in.
melted by the sun. to just meld. we could name ourself
cainannabelle or joan whale. i realise we wouldn't survive on one
income. a tragedy. devastation on such a beautiful day.
earthed from dreams i stretch and feel my stomach growl. think
about dinner. remember the grass and begin to graze.
black hued lacklore
suddenly winter. i rise above a leunig landscape and it is night.
such a sense of light as i glide toward the stars (or the few that
he will allow) a venused grouplinged heaven where orion, upturned,
only ever stands fist raised.
from where did i acquire wings? and how long may i have them?? i
am not dead for they are brown and i am glad, absurdly, to have
vision bifocal... suddenly feel for the ibis.
thoughts of all those things that i have left as my home whisper
and flood my mind as i glide. i have left them, left them all. i
spy you and wonder where your home is; hover, continuing to spy
your lone figure foot watching toward a raised flat stone. still
now, father sown and mother tended, allowing one tear to well and
fall you talk as if those you visit are still where you placed
them feet together eyes closed.
to whom do you speak? and your head turns -- as does mine -- to
find the owl. but it is i who hooted. i who spoke... a feather
flicks in my mouth. i am the owl... madam as seen in the master's
world. i have stepped over the welcome mat, cut my legs from the
earth to find i appear only ever as another's vision.
too easily this sadness may bind me -- for i know what it is to
live for the other -- look up so i might breathe space and catch
the larger vision... at last sense my advance. each toe has an end
you see.
with a tremor i prepare to travel with wings -- in flight!
fassung, twit-twoo.
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