Works and Days of Division – 29 poems by Martyn Crucefix
Drawing on two disparate sources, this sequence of mongrel-bred poems has been written to respond to the historical moment in this most disunited kingdom. Hesiod’s Works and Days – probably the oldest poem in the Western canon – is a poem driven by a dispute between brothers. The so-called vacana poems originate in the bhakti religious protest movements in 10-12th century India. Through plain language, repetition and refrain, they offer praise to the god, Siva, though they also express personal anger, puzzlement, even despair. Dear reader – if you like what you find here, please share the poems as widely as you can (no copyright restrictions). Or follow this blog for future postings. Bridges need building.
Sunday 17.03.2019
‘at my mother’s high bleached bedside’
at my mother’s high bleached bedside
a couple of transparent drips
the monitors bleeping
and across the ward a woman mostly of skin and bone
cries out is that your daughter
and though I have a grown-up daughter
she’s not here so can I laugh it off
as so much senile rapture
though it’s not easy
is that your daughter now she is repeating
and I wonder what it is she thinks she sees
and would it be acceptable
to question her about what it is
who do you believe is standing beside me
though you see nothing
I’m sure she sees nothing of what’s actually here
and she proves it with her wide-eyed gazing
into the white-scrubbed air
repeating look at the bees swarming
O look at the bees
swarming where the bridges are down
Martyn Crucefix 