the last 20 pages of Hermit Kingdom is a sequence. Here is part of the sequence:
HERMIT KINGDOM
leaving, you leave, leaving
the bags
shoved into compartments
restless legs on concrete
geese warping
time along the river
sijang sijang sijang
green cloud erodes the slug
the slug slimes the branches
branches I can’t keep track
of the branches
thoughts pinch and poke
pinch and poke
in the listless light
sijang sijang sijang
weatherchild be told
gravel occasionally in drains
&
sewers opening in monsoons
sijang sijang sijang
haul off the inheritance
in amenonia and dung
in ageless revolutions
of dirty little secrets
proposing
a burial with open eyes
proposing
at the ridge
of thumb and forefinger
to restore all the vitals
in the likely company
of life in the deathcell
tick tock tick tock
the microscopic brilliance
of passing into Jesus
frankly in folded notes
lights crisscross the sky
body in water
horizon that graces mercy
how can I reach this moment
after the sensory
it’s pleasant and understandable
short on prestige nibbling
on dried squid and yogourt
in the evening in
the littering leaves
with a red nose
on a windless night
with bicycles
and high pitched
brakes and turning
spokes
sijang sijang sijang
INTRODUCTIONS
I was introduced to poetry when I needed something to believe in. I was introduced to sound through geographical seperation. In sepia cat claw still scratching at curtains. Ich muss mein Mund screiben. On the cracked trains of nations and where, and why, my lips have kissed. A kid on a float. I can’t resolve the proposals. Populations flock. In my head itself a picture of a head. Far-off murmur of surf and salt sifting through slatted blinds. I was introduced to the tyranny of sunlight at age 22 and wrote under the sanctimonious blink. Still searching for permission to live. . .
HERMIT KINGDOM
bagged
too
heavy
the weight
shifts
I told
the
truth or
tried
to: small hammer
that
humps
the
bell
tacit
I told
because
the self, as we
have it, bumps
and swells
with the
brine
of the heart, caustic
ribbon, cut
in the ice
through which
to fish, all
wet, in flight, drift
of plastic
bag against
the washing line
**
Not me, but me, in fire, stillness persists, pathos snows, under the scalp: hippocrite, hippocrasy, sick fight for rights
**
bbq on sultry Sunday with professors and soju-croon of nationalist ethos: Japan and China and America
**
snail’s breath within an inch in a man’s life the greatest events occur in blindsight
**
to Korea with dog’s underlip
on high from Lucifer
Poetics divorced from the tribe
burned form vanishing in light
PORTADOWN TO LAS VEGAS
making-out in the dug-out, stirrings underground, rumbling the groins, pushed
against the fence, how to swing a bat, tight grip come round the belly, frozen burrito at Steve’s, time cleaves, catategorical masturbated, reflections of a self-righteous decade, New Order, guns and ammo, lost accent, Madonna, chlorinated brain, Now-and-Laters.
Battle of the Boyne: Battle of the bulge
Thy kingdom blown: Thy kingdom drawn
making-out
in the dug-out
reflections
of
guns
&
ammo
lost
accent
&
how
to
swing
a bat
history and the end of history, it happened on a Friday, from grass to desert, fear in a basket rushed down the river, Billy Lundy and Billy Budd, orange sash and red slippers, squeel of the monkeys and squeel of money, Union Street and Arville Apartments, lowland Scot and E.T., little red ridding hood in a sea of lights, it takes a shape, Ian Rush and the Lone Rangers, 7-Eleven and 7-Eleven
Billy
Billy
Billy
gruff in the underbrush, unforgotten victory, u don’t drink our wine, they have blown up the herd
salty sausage and chips: a burger fit for a king
blue lights at K-Mart: red lights in the town square
HERMIT KINGDOM
bags – breached – a new movement
what’s left and what remains
ground in the mad and let grow – forever
feverish – dancing down
the years – imposter –
self posture – of the ghost
in the music
What lay “behind” the Korean madness? Itaewon as border. Konglish. The presence of troops heightened my exposure. A moving
back – below – a wandering – kingdom –
no name – but war
Korea hustles into the future. I purchased designer suits. My western entitlement is naked
Confuscian harmony between – get rich – and quick
what borders – the self – bores
through
desire – for dic-
tation
un-
leashed on
dead
weights
OUTER DARKNESS
and behold he did tilt his head and stretch the space between skull and brain
and behold he did study diverse mysticisms and feel the everlasting omen
descending the sharp angles of a descending staircase
the message breaks smashes the curse
the sign of the nail
lightening enchanted white cloud
in the desert
drilled knees
a volunteer force &
a republic
HERMIT KINGDOM
Bulging and heavy
the day was mad mad
was the house was
the leaving of shirts
and undergarmets
and books stacked
by the airport toilet
scribbled on a small piece of paper
in English and taped to the stall door:
do not flush paper
thought was the silence of power
re-entry visa just in case
to the revolution yet to come
to the duality of tongues
to the lost soul
to the masculine-feminine interior of heaven
to the seafoam of another dirty hotel