Cathedral

Inspired by Bjork's "Unravel."

 

The vaulted ceiling of our Platonism

Has a crack rushing through the spine.

 

The flying buttresses, our Cartesian
Support, seem brittle, once pigeon homes,

 

Now an avernus. What used to be holy

Seems ancient, too mystical for its own good.

 

What’s always constant is the ground,

The moist earth, the grass, the worm.

 

How can you still live and love, when

I always unearth your heart after vespers?

 

Your tarnished, copper heart, silver

Valves, calcified chambers shut to me.

 

Our first kiss is locked in the monstrance,

Our first night decanting in a chalice.

 

For it never was, the first night.

Night is always somewhere, perpetual.

 

Those large organ pipes, like arteries,

And their mute drones and chords,

 

Their fugues of heaven and tenor

Notes of hell, play our song.

 

Your heart, it beats, like a clock,

In my hands, full of earth, in moss.

 

This cathedral will crumble soon,

Your heart is beyond any relic now.

Reviews

[shel]

of course, i played 'unravel' while reading this. first off, i'm blown away by the imagery in this one. the whole thing feels so sacred , not just because of the imagery...it's the pace, how lean & deliberate this feels...
'The moist earth, the grass, the worm.'
i really think i need to read this a few (dozen) times. with lines like 'Our first kiss is locked in the monstrance'...there's an awful lot going on here. as always, i feel like i'm missing something! there are references to time as movement vs. and a stillness (night)...what once was holy, now ancient...the crack rushing through the spine of Platonism, the duality of heaven and hell in the music (our song)...all worthy of unraveling. even though i'm not sure if i quite 'get' it yet, or simply can't articulate it, this is beautiful. i missed reading your work!