Shadowtrain

Patricia Farrell
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Issues 1-14

The Tower of Silence (a-e)
 
a)
 
when the throat is cut
and the voice falls back
and on the floor
the things I see when I read aren’t real
the cake shop
and right next door
the strange room in the cellar
 
he calls me  “little friend”
turning the flesh from inside out
and each time we died he wept
 
the earth floats on the air like a leaf
are the birds outside the window having fun?
 
 
b)
 
take the word  patient
this has to be one thing
how can I understand
 
it also means another
 
performing the operation in my head
a notebook appears on the table
with four pencils beside it
 
 
c)
 
all this a place arises
founded on causation
a conjunction reason                                        
that in the present case                         
either to suppose some beings exist                     
or that when the whole is in the whole
the absurdity of the two  proves sufficiently          
the supposition it resolves
 
ask me in thirty years and I will say
 
all this a place arises founded on
causation a conjunction
reason that in the present case                         
either to suppose
some beings exist or that when                                
the whole is in the whole the absurdity
of the two proves sufficiently the supposition         
it resolves
 
ask me to walk past the yellow door
and I will say
this is not the same street
 
 
d)
 
common sense was wrong
salivating more for bread than meat
 
four pages of fine print
four hours of step-by-step procedure
two hundred stitches
sequentially from health to happiness
bathed and shaved
without a drop of blood
without a single scream
 
the pebbles placed on graves
make nothing in the mouth
ground to sand
we dribble to get rid of them
 
the prick of a pin
the pat of a hand
starting to say
more than you can prove
take one look at the brain
and throw it away in despair
 
sing
 
twenty-five sentimental songs
about breeding a non-viable food-source
which breaks its wings in zero gravity
 
 
 
e)
 
these three interests are related
the mouth waters
Little Friend
 
although they are decapitated
remember my enchantment
Little Friend
 
I learned how to sever
getting in from the outside world
 
listen to the electrical activity
listen through the telephone
Little Friend
 
I am nervous with behaviour
of leaving marks on the future
Little Friend
 
problems of life and mind
just roared with laughter as he does
 
we’re provoking new lines of thought
cutaneous sensations
Little Friend
 
a will to simply intelligence
the material right juices
Little Friend
 
please believe
I do not exaggerate
 
falls straight through
and on the ground
Little Friend
 
the nearly perfect possible
excites me in the normal fashion
Little Friend
 
I wait
 

© Patricia Farrell, 2007

 

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