Three Poems by Jeffrey Cyphers Wright


MADE IN KHARTOUM

Locked in the clock factory running out of time
The gate welded shut with a human torch
The Kooks “just don’t care — do do, dit di-dit dit”
I wake up exiled from immediacy
My eyes burning in Emily Brontë’s looking glass
Dire pleasures Hereabouts
A thousand friends, not too many
Hellbent on making a punctilious mess
Amid a welter of bruising wink shudders
CRY LIKE A TEENAGE ROBOT
Row on, my Myrmidons, the shore is a cheap toy
A fighting chance to star in a marathon of love
Where the screech owl meets the squeaking gurney
Gryphon wings shed hieroglyphs in the wind

MADE IN LHASA

The artist needs to whittle out a forest
Ebony, calabur, ash and jacaranda
Become grafted to crisscross limbs
I need to hang the light from my tongue
Re-enter a new version of the past
Fusebound to a white-scar splice
The croak hinges of my throat crack
Black anthem of the veined runway
This is where they’ll finally bring you
Place of the gods where Padmasambhava
(born on a lotus pad on Lake Dhanakosha)
pinned down the earth demoness
Dancing with the nickled silence
Once more to center stage, whales in space

MADE IN LILIPUT

Dear Emily, I am writing to say this is a forgery
A freak squall blown up suddenly
Dear Emily, now we are entanglement
Dear Emily, a spooky correlation-spike
Dear Emily, oil futures up this morning
Dear Emily, the wind designs our entropy
And jugglers project our distension, Emily dear
Dear Emily, on the site of the abject joy
Where we build, dear Em, the dam of dreams
You alone are preapproved moodswing bingo
Dawn’s juicy kiss plastered to your mug
More rope, anyone?
Let us dance on all fours, Emily
Like a reckless pookah caught in the grille



Jeffrey Cyphers Wright is a poet, artist and publisher. He is the author of a dozen books of poetry and has recently been included in a half dozen group shows. His website is www.livemagnyc.com