Soma
is an Indo-Iranian ritual drink made from pressing particular psychedelic
and energizing plants together. In Vedic and Zoroastrian traditions the
drink is identified with the divine. The word Soma is derived from the
Sanskrit and Indo-European tongues meaning to press and be newly born.
Somatic
is derived from the Greek, meaning the body. In different medical disciplines
it can mean different things, from a cell or tissue, or to the part of the
nervous system that controls sensations and movements.
My
idea for a (Soma)tic Poetics is a poetry which investigates that seemingly
infinite space between body and spirit by using nearly any possible
THING around or of the body to channel the body out and/or in toward spirit
with deliberate and sustained concentration.
My
first investigation into (Soma)tic poetry is a series I am calling
"(Soma)tic Midge." This is a 7-poem cycle where I fully immerse
myself in a single color for a day. The order of the 7-poem cycle being
the natural order of color, starting with RED, then ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN,
BLUE, PURPLE, then ending with WHITE. PURPLE being the transformative,
natural pivotal color which is born ONLY WHEN the starting color RED
(which is the first element of the Zodiac, Aries, or ORIGINAL FIRE) and the
last color BLUE (which is the last element of the Zodiac, Pisces, or ADVANCED
WATER) bleed together.
When I say fully immerse myself in the colors I mean ONLY eating foods of the color of the day, as well as wearing something or keeping something of that color on or around me at all times.
smells of summer crotch smells of new car’s purple
MAjestY
(written after eating only purple foods for a day
while under the influence of purple
clothes-pin nipple-clamps)
--for Magdalena Zurawski
every
day needs an
urgent whistle blown
into it
Thomas Paine’s
body
was lost because in
the end no
one
deserved it
he came to
protect us with his
condoms especially the
purple
ones there was
extra protection
reality is case sensitive for
the poor
keep trying we
keep trying I want to but
am not
there when
I’m there
and
spill it
before they
ask me
not to spill it
I follow my despair
despite
warnings where their
safety obsesses
I am
going INTO it
GOING into IT
in my country it
is legal to purchase
items people suffered
to produce
how long have we
planned for this failure?
coffin manufacturing
perfected to
step-up production with a single
phone call reading a headline
falling away from
the gun until
fighting to
stay awake
hesitation sometimes
brings the Love
just look for the
sharpest thing
in the
room my mother
instructed
facing certain
annihilation he
financed his
sperm’s will to
find the egg
to panic a
panic only
sex and pot
can put at ease
my neighbor
killed himself where
my new neighbor
undresses every morning for
her shower
it’s easier to
fail you and
say I Love you
Cain and Able
were both to blame
parables pawing the
air with stupidity
it is
much
easier to
fail me
and say you
Love me
X is not blameless
X is not a missed peak
sell these
X pieces for
mouthing off toward
engines of war or
any old halo against
itself
from the womb not the anus WHITE asbestos snowfall
on 911
(written after eating only white foods for a day
while under the influence of “108” written
on my forehead with fresh cum)
it’s a dog
my heart
my war hair
gets the dead
tangled express message
sent to meet
the approaching
fist
wince
but
do not
burn
away
from more
than one
thing and
more than
one day
Apathy
break from
room where
electricity
hums for
years
retrieve
mind from
socket and
tingly
crotch that
created this
world
does having the
ear of
angels
impress?
but
I would
rather speak
to you
Dear Admiral White Pants
thanks for
the field
guide to
extinct
animals
you make me the
belly who
birds push
through at last
the rich can
hire a dominatrix
my mother could
only afford to
marry badly
everything you
know and
do not
know can
be yanked
apart no matter
who you
can
afford
post
traumatic
stress the
grass
bleeding
chlorophyll
do you
like your
fluids to
travel together?
tell me please
about
the calm you
seek when
war is
over
my uncle sneered to
say what a horrible
soldier you
would make!
nicest
thing
anyone’s ever
said
of me
a dove
lands but
I say nothing
no spell
broken