Visions of Zosimos

not finished

The hard taste of fermented grain,

"is a pleasure like death",

rasped the old man by the river

as he drops his line through

the circle, cut ice:

"Serrated and certain, as tullips and spring"

Said the old fisherman; 

a quiet, calm, dialectic.  

 

It was a night of crisp, cold air. 

The winterly smell of pines

hanging on every distant windowsill. 

As he reels his line, and sips his whiskey:

"By the cool waters of our river,

let us hold up our bodies in celebration.

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti                        1.

Let us pray as we sit,

severing, slowly

the moment from the memory";

 

Over the waters

his whispers carry,

to the darkest corners of my room,

lighting the migration of hands and lips..... 

and empty Spirits. I  knelt,

praying to the god of Hips.

to see the universe resting in one.

  

To cast my body      

amongst the sea of mouths, and feet.                        5.

My devotion 

aching at the end of Seasons

to be cast into the fire of the art                     3.

and with the light of a thousand suns become                               5.

nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

1.(classical mythology - blind prophet tiresius lived as both man and women, also a quote from ts elliots the waste land)
2.the birthday of the unconquered sun is a pagan roman holiday for the solctice and the sun god sol
3. Zosimos of Panopolis was an alchemist who wrote a book about a vision that came to him in a dream. He was dismembered and burned. This is a metaphor for the concept of gnosis in gnostic though and is akin to enlightenment, as well as the concept of distillation of the fundamental laws of the universe. hence my satirical reference to liquor or "spirits"
4.The human Seasons is a poem by John Keats, a winter being the metaphor for twilight years. It also implies a cyclic nature.
5. Mr. death among the sea of mouths and feet is a reference to The god Shiva, creator and destroyer. The specific language is drawn from Ajuns description of The universal form of Shiva in the 11 th chap. of the Bhagavad Gita.

Reviews

[Rick Puetter]

Dear Samuel,

This is a very interesting poem. It is not quite as direct in its meaning as I might like (we talked about this before), however it isn't really that obscure either. And I am appreciating, in fact, the allusions made in the poem. Further, being me, I love the classical references. Indeed, I have used Tireius in one of my poems as well ("Odysseus").

Regarding the footnotes, I like them very much. As you know my poetry is certainly not a stranger to footnotes. But I would tag the text with the footnotes where the references occur. I understand the negative aspect of this, i.e., the tags may interfere with the flow, being a visual distraction. My compromise was to use quite small text for the footnote tags to make them less of an eyesore. I don't really have a better solution for this. I guess everyone will have to decide according to their own taste.

I am particularly fond of your use of "Dies Natalis Solis Invicti" in the piece, the Roman festival of the birthday of the unconquered sun instigated by emperor Aurelian in 274 AD and held on December 25th, i.e., Christmas day. This has several possible interpretations in your poem. All of them are nice and add to the power of the poem.

I also enjoyed the reference to Zosimos. Now there are many notable persons named Zosimos in history. Your reference, of course, is to Zosimos of Panopolis, the alchemist and gnostic mystic, a near contemporary of emperor Aurelian. The reference to Zosimos allows us to see that you are going through a alchemic transmutation in the poem. Just as Zosimos is divided into four pieces according to the rule of harmony (i.e. the four natures) and burned by Ion, the founder of the Sabian religion, you have been "cast into the fire of the art" and "become / pure soul". Very nice.

A wonderful, but complex, piece. Highest marks. However, this poem is sufficiently complex that in addition to the footnotes I would add a few explanatory sentences to help the reader who is less familiar with this material.

My very best regards,

Rick