Monday 30 May 2016

Migration. David Stone (USA) and Cheryl Penn (South Africa)

MIGRATION


beginning the human migration from Africa (about where you are now)walking thousands of miles one foot at a time,crossing the Mediterranean Sea. entering Grecian air space. encountering razor wires,sharks,hunger, love-somewhere-mother's- hanging on-handling life's pills-flesh-evolving-haunting-tasks-meeting knights-arts and sciences-never
more famous or brilliant than these tastes.

sometimes there’s inspiration,
in migration
BUT lack of preparation
can lose the challenge.
its all off the same plate
this life,
the audience - they’re cruel
and unforgiving,
clapping from curtained windows
in commercial towers
fast and furious meetings,
no time
for matchstick girls
and Little Princes,
just the inevitable Red Shoe Dance, dictated by political Blackbeards
(and borders).

observing the North Sea-the people stream and hide in cliffs. the Vikings-the terror of the broadsword-displaced by bullets-then-mustard gas and nukes-then just terror itself-shepherds.
hiding flocks. flocks massacred. come here into the hereunto aftereffects for balance. solace. families. tied. ribbons. collections taken. rumbled the carts.

You know
that what you have begun
will NEVER end -
this North Sea trip?
stark white barely cast shadows
intended effect
watching drones
fly over desert landscapes
wondering
where they were headed.
Boats were conveniently there and no one thought it could be a trap
desperation is a sad bedfellow. moon on tepid water adrift for days eyes on the future -it may be an endless ocean.

The North Sea-the Neanderthals stood at its shore,burying dead,looking up at the stars,believing their souls became the stars. the flux of time and entities expressed. homes. cold nights. the hearths. warm stories told to children.

Deep fjords
sharper sheer cliffs
but the LIGHThouse,
that was real -
as were gunshots and strange animals
while they took to water
and rowed for their lives.

the beacons the speeches proclaim eras. yells. periods. later who fell into the state with toetags. the belief systems. origins.
petroglyphic stains once were reddened with cells spirit pours icicles inches desisted lobes anterior reforms made theses
proclaimed corruption the popular pope the kids think he is cool he rides in his bulletproof car and waves and blesses.
argued Heraclitus nature loves to hide herself the worst forms deterred in traffic.

metamorphic mysteries
high rise technical drawings
plateaued
the line
never missed its natural mark
Jasmine -
there were so many mouths to feed
nature DID hide. 

the plateau. the strife-crying-worn-a welcome?
somewhere
else
we
speak
sent
a
combined
message
to
from
after
the legions
of God
plastered
the fable.


although there were fabled guests
the octaves were high
she made a deal
a deadly deal
but if you wait
just long enough
for one last take
you’ll see
There are no bloodless revolutions
but words don’t bleed
do they?

the fables and the speeches request a messenger adopted children a trickle beseech pleas beings encumbered embarrassed erased all sizes described. positions postulates dilations on tablets benefits compounded wait
unmask the messenger drank a cup once and intoned mercy.


Mercy?
So the desert loomed (someone opened to that page). All incoming shows were put on hold for current plays. Physical distress is monitored, especially in fire emergencies and postulated positions. Reproduced, cloned words were active at the beginning, assuming they would be used with gay abandon.  Their dreams of use died early - no one wants complications or compound waits anymore.

The cold watch the view from the bridge the operators door opens gates celebrates mass migrations metempsychoses chosen people replicate doctrines of obedience folds disposed toys children cry the bridge connectors replay replenish soldered holds.

That’s the problem with double crossing in obedience folds - they generally occurs at double crossings.  Was he responsible for the migratory bombing or was that just what was written about him.  Enter the dictionary see if you can find some other adjectives.  Keep it simple as far as he knows we’re meeting him for the first time.  Do you think this is a long or short story? 


Not too sure, if we run the libretto sequence again the spots on her stockings will stop shining.


Water. the children need a drink. So do adults. crossing a million miles and years and here we speak. must one believe at least to feel better?

Jasmine, I’m so tired.
water surfaces
so still
no ripples
glass
what will I say to them?
Its been so long
I too have changed
inside and out
and the wounds
 still throb.
Shall I
take the first watch?

Here,drink this. It is (just)water-so pure(but not purified-no special filter)-people in the desert. ice water. bottled water. you cannot drink the ocean.


why are they staring
This ocean of people -
he’s on the guest list  - smile maybe
in the basement with all
the unsolved files
the leaded glass was old
and cracked
make this simple
in fluid moonlit
vaulted ceilings
keep your voice
down
there’s a line
KEEP your voice down!
a child,
but So Ancient.
A word?

the tribes and societies. some do not climb. all perish. the guardians know best. in Plato's Republic-no poets.  some songs are too bright.

Do we lie about who we are?
Are those migrating voices that sing?
Swallows in mudhouses
under the eves -
they come from north Africa I’m told.
trapped, that’s what WE are
No Exodus awakening.
When did you become so captivating?
(perhaps)
Where shall I start?
The remains of ancient civilizations
they were a cake-walk
(compared)
tribal diaspora
another pivotal point. 

the great lies- Plato bans poets from the Republic (so he can be the only poet). the philosopher kings know best-the people-the herds of the unknowing.
eating. God's magnificent inventions.


Lyrics and Epics
tragedies philosophized
until
suffering is merely words.
oral evidence
retro rhetoric
It was shady down there
(the characters I mean)
half formed story lines
poetics
waiting in shadows
not called to service.
(mimesis).


Climbing a ladder. a wrung of tissue. a race rink idols speak fresh messages ladies and gentleman the big top the trapeze the tiger tamer clawed and blood soaks his brilliant orange shirt. tissues. admission fees casino machines funds to buy food sparklers hurt worse dinner families leap and chew.


senses not bound to representation,
imitation, expressionism,
rigor, test train crash, debate, attacks, global markets, oil gluts, reported dead, emerging footage in migrating gyres.


the news the bombings/religion-one wonders who goes to heaven.

I would venture NONE.
You’re right you know
but who did this?
We couldn’t bear it
not for another hour
another minute
it all slipped from under us
for real it will come down
to OUR reality

one day.

the talk suspended all night people sleep pterodactyls rustle asking for feathers.

the power walk of one migratory line. 



PostMigrations: 

The evolutions of societies-amalgams of cultures and languages-the drives of rivers of people not just individuals but peoples and cultures-cultural clashes when they arrive and over centuries shift the fabric of beliefs and actions. For as powerful as China is and its grand traditions-in American society-Chinese restaurants and laundries and everything that was made in america is now made in China. 


Post migration pilots dreaming
and immigration deals that never happened.


THIS

to see what they allow
Spionkop killings
forced (im)migration
graves testifying to the futility of that.
I bet they had dreams too.


Immigration and Naturalization. Language. Skills Culture. the tenements. fruit vendors. go to school. language accents. identify your address from your pronunciation. 

Mind snow attacks the television
migrating thoughts
shots to fashion. susanna to walking bare foot over the mountains before succumbing to the british.  boer concentration camps. sapphires in crowns of thorns. rubies set in bones. white on white crotched doylies. sisters hiding brothers in anthills.  sacrifice. listening to voices one cannot hear.  whispers from the graves. soft winds though pine trees.
so many thoughts,
no clarity
Was I dreaming?


In New York, Blackwell's Island (so distant from Blackwell's in Oxford!). hope. a little girl. a tin drum. some day I will become a great drummer. listen to this sound.


LISTEN TO THIS SOUND.