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.
Tuesday 26.03.2019
‘one of the sounds you imagine’
one of the sounds you imagine is the boatman calling
this is Howtown— Howtown
the boatman calls as the note of the engine drops
and this is where I’d have you disembark
(for a while you lend yourself to me as if there were no difference)
and I imagine you turning back on yourself
along the lake’s edge in your boots of course you move easily
southwards back towards the sun’s post meridian
to the south retracing on foot the watery way
you have just come
along well-marked ways like little religious stations
Martyn Crucefix 