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.
Monday 11.03.2019
‘there are six crows’
there are six crows in the swaying branches
of a mountain ash—
google tells me the tree is a pioneer species
but this is something of a Disney film—
each bird is facing north
perhaps because the breeze is in-coming
from that direction and it may be that crows
depend more than anyone
has ever realised on a sense of smell
but what do I know—hey what I do know
is that this steady freezing in-coming breeze
arriving from remote northern territories
brings uplift as one of the crows
does a one-eighty making all the others
suddenly glance nervously over
their shoulders they are thinking he’s my man
il duce—messiah—mein vater
he has them all by the scruff of their necks
now all the bridges are down
Martyn Crucefix 