Epic of the Six Darknesses: I

Epic of the Six Darknesses: I


I


Here we go again
here come all the darknesses


the first darkness of birth
the second darkness of breast
the third darkness of verse
the fourth darkness of doors
the fifth darkness of mixtures
the sixth darkness of stars
They are gathering in the gut
that place of poetry
from which words emerge
stillborn and sexless
nothing grows there
only dark things—
mushrooms, crows,
vultures, the carrion clowns
moonshine blue in the forking night
an absence of shadow
the boneyard blitzed and stilted

The word is squeezed out like a tear.

When does the world become easier to bear?
When will the white tiger abandon the blood
leaving me whole and unbroken?

Here come the darknesses
they are black like death
they fill me with their absence
swallowing all my strength

How can we keep going when all the light is gone?
They drink the light like children drink milk
they take my six nipples in their lips


seed nipple
mouth nipple
(left) hand nipple
mind nipple
gut nipple
soul nipple
The six darknesses suck me dry
I have nothing more to give now nothing.


Richard Smyth

Posted over on Anabiosis Press