PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION

on the farm,
perforce, we
put our heads together

everything under the Sun
puts is head together

wheels
    set in
              motion

as
word        speads

and Heraclitus of Miletus
stops by

a number of things
brings to mind

solid argument inclusive: that
all is
     twice, thrice,
there is nothing that
is not in process

meanwhile (forgive the inadvertent South African
colloquialism) not
back
    at the ranch
but in the heart of Johannesburg

they are staging a production
of Euripides’ The Bacchae
have
already
     launched into
the opening scene

which very instant, being
in the audience my
mind
     thirsting for
ecstasy
    veers towards chaos, entropy,
fractal mathematics

as we suddenly welded into one
sift and exchange
that whole Pandora’s box
of memories and
recollections

whispers and ghosts
the very
        incantations that
pull aside the veil, strip
off the veneer

speaking for myself
               but
perhaps all

hardly able to wait, kill
that terminal longing,
                               set eyes
upon the mask
that is
        dark Dionysus’ face

ENDGAME

ENDGAME

playing chess

whilst our liar leaders
think about war
                  at the summit
of their lives

you don’t have
to be Bobby Fischer to
win

a nuclear match
           just a matter of economy
and who makes
the
    signature
      sacrifice

        puts it all out
there
      tempts into an atomic
      no-holds
barred
         pawn gambit

EQUATOR

EQUATOR

forget boundaries
forget enclosures

here
there are no
prisons for the body
of the soul

there is wide expanse
open sky only

boundless
       across the page
between the lines
each and every

three sixty degrees
meridian and back
from pole to pole
         twice across
the equator

planet
to galaxy
ocean to ocean

from
the river

to the sea

ANACONDA

ANACONDA

reconnoitre
my anaconda

see what proclivity for
algebra

her evil eye
able to solve for the
lengthiest equations

serpentine mind slithering
axiomatically

perfect physique for
quadrilateral equations
              pure Amazonian
when
   calculus calls

not at all flummoxed
if the ground
       should be shifting

Kurt Godel’s theme
of incompleteness
     her piece of cake

and if
      using her body to
define new systems of geometry
topology

no lever needed
        to make her cosmos move
 

SUGAR MINERS

SUGAR MINERS

sugar miners

not for
      minors

candy
  finders

old joke going back
to the goldrush of 1849

the sweetness they
find down there
      a seam so treaty

litigation and issues
of property rights
   following
               everywhere

but
    I bought this face
from a robber baron
could not be
happier
at the game
history played

the dice loaded, the hired help
packing

alternate narrative notwithstanding

this is the way
it has always been
              
  
   

REPUBLICAN

REPUBLICAN

Oh, baby,
you are
so good
so good
to me

take me
to infinity
in a slow, stately,
crazy
        turbo-
charged carriage

and we ignore
the clouds, the crowds,
have
   no time for people whatsoever
no need to wave and smile
wave and smile
were we
      the celebrated figureheads
of some constitutional monarchy

no we screetch and caterwaul
roar and cry

      like king and queen, which
we are but
of our animal kingdom

the power to take and shape
and give
       back equally

fair just re-
distribution no royal
could dream of

our sweet template for
complete republican

Oh baby
you are so good to me.