sky burial

sky burial [doug duffey]

to move the uncertain

the body skepticism

flesh was preparation

exclusively disassembling

ritual flaying

limbs and body

given to hawks

birds fly eyewitness

preceding procedures and

the less favored places

accounts specify more facts

the male the procedure

first - bones and body

considered tool flesh

stripped from bones

physical milk simply processed

the hole only the tsampa

they were given broken up

ground with the hair

crows and internal organs

and birds bits in

bone flour with yak

the departeds accounts and

any other hacked assistants

omens processed

the removed head expresses

its Sanskrit soul easier

chant mantra activities

body and incense labor

tasks with ceremony

monastery Buddhist teachings

or rather plane talk

the body decomposes

the soul consumed

burn juniper

quality meat

the bones

stick offerings

vultures vultures

cartilage vultures

keeping away

gravity

July 7, 2009 MLU [c] 2009 doug duffey

l'anima del dio

l'anima del dio [doug duffey]

the blue pyramid boat tip
creases and cleaves the
glass green water, edging
toward the infinite horizon

cat tails and tall grasses
multicolored seashells,stones
border the shoreline where
crabs crawl over swans eggs

ancient collages of sienna
mosaics crumbled cathedrals
ghosts of saints and angels
forgotten names of martyrs
appear then disappear

slowly slowly toward eternity
sky and sea steadfast
unfolding waves caress
encircle and enclose

we move into the soul of god

palombaio, italia january 14,1998
[c]2009 doug duffey

freedom people

freedom people [doug duffey]

some remarkable story
another weekend
glow good friends
as this nation achieves
America of barbeque

our nation was patriots
experiment matter
founders enshrined
citizens embracing
one step in taste

company and fireworks
sacred the fortunes
hard-fought birthright
in evolving union
the perfect belongs free

[c]2009 doug duffey
july 4, 2009

limbeaux

limbeaux [doug duffey]

below me

the mississippi snakes

through the dark landscape

toward a peach coloured

southern sky

at one curve it almost touches itself

like an astrological sign

like omega

eternity

thousands of feet above the earth,

i suddenly remember

that thousands of miles away,

at the very tail of the snake

lies my home

[C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY

written somewhere in the air 10.1.1990

The Abortion Voyeur

The Abortion Voyeur [Doug Duffey]

Nora spit on the light, those gray nine months

Mildew of light, grimy drops, whimpering sky

Then borne was the child foreskin and full

“But did not move; did not move; he was grist!”

A page, later confesses to Nora

[The wrong kind of nocturnal hag]:

“That sort of lower diction is unpleasant;

Thee alone IS hanged far above Doctor Tossoff”

Then, like a devil out of breath, the above doctor says,

“It occurs to me the poor and the sick toss a bit then pass.”

Priceless that! I, high up off the sidewalk, dropping eaves,

Eye to the peephole; a bit of daylight, see

There, a church in the wrong church, in the wrong

Behind the lowered blinds revealed

That he was sort of that sort

“Poor Doctor… the stories”, says Nora

june 25, 2009 MLU[C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY

sacro amore bovini

sacro amore bovini [doug duffey]

those generations rest

the pious and divine rest

the cattle of love all rest

disciples remain and stay

evermore will herds

through gliding slayers

stormy man beasts

those happy alone, stray

the pious birds laugh

fowls bemused abstain

breasts swift in gliding

flee soon thence there

first the children di fiore

walkest and serve

sacrifice at the coming altars

loyal, holier than who are you

beneath love, greening us

remain men

on slayers lands

on flaming ramparts

along the region skies

adulatores rather old

the risen lure

that the young birds

eat

july 3, 2009 [C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY

via sesso

via sesso [doug duffey]

during their babylonian captivity

men worshipped men

functions of the two-headed

the sacks of only boys

imperial leg bones

severed hands

the skeleton of napoleon

blessed forever

after 37 their bodies would teach

the lusts of speech

apis bull rites

poets exchanged degrading passions

burned green-tinted hearts

dried kidneys and livers

confessed sins as grave as murder

the excommunication lifted

there was creature art to see:

men in baths public

receiving their women or

catamites 6 inches to half feet

pliny had wood

veins like leaves

past archivists tell

pomponius, baby,

so twisted by the new testament

had biblical books recycled

into butcher paper

to create indices

many volumes

shiny as lacquered rhetoric

a more transparent image

july 3, 2009

[C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY