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Darko R. Suvin: MORE DEPARTURES FROM HEINE [850 words] [Headnote: This series of poems came about in part because I was reading Heine. But i cannot give all responsability to old Henri: i redid his stimuli, in places wildly, for the year 2000. My logic was: if Henri had added to his presuppositions & inclinations also my experiences & a bit of my temperament etc., he might have written these poems in 2000. I fear he'd have written much better ones.] 2. In the forest in the gloaming I was given a strange vision The Queen of Fairies was a-roaming Clearly seen, without misprision.
Round & round me her train went And she turned & flashed a smile Tell me, O Queen, what this meant Spare me, Mab, the miss a mile.
Did you stage it for my learning? To reward my fealty? Does it mean a love returning? Does it mean the death of me?
3. Red-eyed bloody business weather! One-eyed profit-ordered town! How i wonder when--not whether-- Earthquakes rise to break you down.
4. A white bird flies over the sea Shark & stingray at her try It flutters up, it flutters down The Moon is small & very high.
Dear soul that flies over the sea How i understand your sigh! The black black waters are so close The Moon is small & very high.
5. For on this rock we shall erect The Church that works from downside up The Third Age church of Holy Bodies Both personal & congregational:
See: hunger, killings are not needful The pie in TV skies deceives Give us today our daily sweets Give us down here the sacred hearts & sense.
Return to body its merry pump Rid of the fat that has enclogged it The overeating brought by hunger The ulcers caused by profit slash & burns.
Return to brain its hormonal bath Disturbed by wolfish enmities To people & birds & beauteous trees-- When heart & brain work well, we shall be saved.
If you, O masters, will not let us Be saved, entirely we must Remove you: profit is the fat In bloodstream, profit brings the early stroke.
Your lying church will be dismantled Our Earth at last inhabitable, Polluted eyes may see no godheads The cleansed may go to many-coloured stars.
When holiness meets wholeness & the people absolute, Washed clean of Class Division Sin We may aspire to the cosmic Lute.
6. Ghostly kissing, ghostly loving Ghostly living, by & by: Did you think, romantic person, Love does last eternally?
True, our bodies held each other, & their feelings truly soared: As true is the wheel of nature, Too quickly we soar no more.
For the brains they grow forgetful & the heavy eyelids close: Memories may keep some echo, At the end, it also goes.
7. The stormy waves they sweep Well onto the strand They burst & burrow deep Well into the sand.
Back-forth incessantly Fro they go & to, Then roar insistently-- What good does this do?
8. A weirdly formed rock juts on the coast I sit there & think of my dreams. Waves roll, winds whistle, & a noisome host Of raptor seagulls screams.
I've loved many a beauteous doll: They & my visions, all lost. Where have they gone? The waves they roll, Warlike there wanders a ghost.
9. When i kiss her mouth i close my eyes Between my hands i take her face, Now day & night she asks me why Her queries are tatted lace.
I do not tell the reason why I do not know myself the reason, I kiss her mouth & close my eyes-- No doubt, another season.
11. Of course you are my only ideal I've told you so a thousand times With oaths & poems, meant for real, But now i'm busy--come another time.
Come please tomorrow at the hour of three I shall expect you at the wicket. Afterwards we'll have dinner & go see A movie; or maybe i will phone for press tickets
To Brecht's Mother: the story tells Of a mother & son, & how they may cling Together despite all prison cells-- They both grow devoted to a Third Thing.
13. We sat in the pizza parlor & debated alienation We went to dinner many times Deploring globalization.
The little god of the right moment A putto naked & shameless Came by & saw us sitting there Laughed & flew on, blameless.
14. (Doctrine) Drummer, drum on & have no fear & kiss the bare-breast Liberty! This is the whole of science & art The sum of all philosophy.
Drum & inveigle the drowsy people Send the snake's hiss & roar of lions, One step in front, ready to die, This is the sum of art & science.
This is old Karl's dialectics Of all philosophy it is the Summa. I've understood it because i'm not stupid, & saw the Revolution one Summer.
Berlin 7/00
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