radio maria

radio maria [doug duffey]

they say the rosary on the radio
play spooky hymns and ring bells
i drink wine and eat bread in the kitchen
and think of some weird communion

so strange this catholic culture
with blue neon lit shrines in yards,
on buildings, on street corners
candles burning all night in cemeteries
and weather beaten churches

from pagan gods to christian saints
the voodoo stays the same
from temples of venus to
shrines to the madonna...
the roman empire, the roman church

offerings of oil, water, fire, and flowers
mystic elements lying on altars
in funereal practices to dead folks
holy, or unwholy, magic

a woman takes telephone calls
like on a “call in and win something” game show
what does she give away?
a crucifix? a statue? a rosary? a vulgate bible?
some holy water? oil from the bones of st. nicholas?
two all expense paid round trip tickets to the vatican?
a get out of purgatory free card?

[c]1998/2009 1998 doug duffey
palombaio, italy feb.12,1998

EGYPT 2

egypt 2 [doug duffey

Architectural remains are categorized
Valuable stones and minerals
Courtyards and chambers
Paintings, thrones and chairs,
Priests, soldiers, celestial royals,
Funerary temples, private tombs

In the shadow of the countryside
In the primeval dust
A serpent eats eternal life…
Pronounced by tongues
From time immemorial
“all things and so on, are created
in this way”

in the Memphite mythological context
air and moisture proceed
from eight ithyphallic processes
some from the creation of a surplus
of cemeteries and internal stimuli
some from poetic cosmology
some from subterranean elements
scarabs, ankhs, ka, ba, soforth

the great paradox
is to satisfy belief and ritual
throughout all classes
reflecting the breakdown of
a decentralized system
yet adhering to old traditions
with ruling key centers
elsewhere… accessed via
pyramids, satellites, cell phones
e-mail

while the remote valley of prosperity
lies licentiously
beneath a mud brick hut

[c]2000 doug duffey [Luxor/Egypt] and post egypt
[C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY

KEROUAC

Kerouac [doug duffey]

Kerouac used cat scans from Main Street
diagnosed strokes, neurological conditions,
cosmic illnesses, mental revelations,
American post traumatic stress

specific beat brain consciousness imagined
the cortex of subjects, federal circuits, hippopotamus bombers,
analyst’s raunch, emerging schizophrenia
banking the signals in investments

worried the culture was indefensible, corrupted,
hungry for founding fathers christianism, rhetoric,
customizable options, programmed lanuages,
drove him to an organic medication universe diet

Saturday, July 15, 2006
[C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY

EGYPT 1

egypt 1 [doug duffey]

The hiddenness of divinity

Must go back to the old kingdom

Of sun temples, invisible power

And radiant life

It has been lost to the nile

there was only one boat

located on the east bank

where, during the voyage in the underworld,

the nocturnal passage across the sky,

amun stood in erection

then flooded thebes

deep within the temples

the colours changed

there were no crocodiles

ony ruins and hotels

the kingdoms of administration

museums and gift shops sprung up

mummified tour operators

display links between pharaoh,

cruise boats, and mc donald’s

Egyptian authority increased

The waters of kilometers

Sawed up and transplanted Rameses

Dug up and detoured deities

To Cairo, the Metropolitan, Angleterre

A scared precinct, broken down

Chopped up like Osiris

Past warring with present

Imitating the dawn of the world

The hand of god, stilled

[c] 2000 doug duffey [Luxor/Egypt] [C] 2009 DOUG DUFFEY