I eat dry
bread…
I
eat dry bread in the desert:
It
tastes like a cake of dust.
I
breathe in and out powdery clouds:
Nostrils
singe, snorting fire.
I
swallow my own saliva:
Thick
paste coats my inside throat.
How
will I sustain my journey in this land
When
my mouth is filled with sand?
I
falter inside a steel kettle, sparks popping about.
Black
footprints flame at the edges.
I
am dried up, a gourd rattling seeds.
Heat
waves deceive like the devil.
Thirsty,
I lick at a mirage with my eyes.
Twisting,
I glimpse the taskmaster sun.
Hands
astride hips, he glares mercilessly,
Glowering
white noon death rays.
The
sky is livid, a clown murderer, crimson lips, grinning.
He
spills sacksful of hot ash from above.
Hordes,
buried alive, scratch at the insides of a wooden coffin.
Spiritless
as the burning air gone lifeless,
I
am dark as a moonless, starless sky,
Staggering
in an expanse unbounded beyond extreme sight,
Devoid
of any atom of hope,
Despair,
a universe expanding endlessly.
Originally
published in Cecile’s Writers (August
28, 2016)
 |
| Mano del Desierto (1992) by Mario Irarrázaal, Atacama Desert, Chile |
Public domain photo
ReplyDeletePhoto link:
https://pixabay.com/en/chile-atacama-landscape-hand-693056/
Gonzalinho
HAND IN THE DESERT
ReplyDeleteTravel down the Pan-American Highway, through the heart of Chile's Atacama Desert, and you will stumble upon Martian landscapes and not a lot else. That is, until you reach kilometre marker 1308, where a small gravel road leads to a giant work of art: a 36-foot hand rising out of the sand.
Link:
http://www.easyvoyage.co.uk/news/giant-hand-sculpture-atacama-desert-chile-72996
In the middle of the Atacama Desert, in a parched and forsaken region, a giant hand comes out of the ground. It is a sculpture by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal representing the victims of injustice and torture during the military regime in Chile.
Link:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/353683#ixzz4a3ssuRnF
Gonzalinho
THE DESERT OF LENT
ReplyDeleteIt begins tomorrow night – Wednesday for you in the West. Lent is beginning.
Christ is going out into the desert.
Why is He going into the desert?
He is going to meet you there.
...He is coming here, to the desert, to lead us on the Via Dolorosa, to Calvary and from there, to home.
Make ready your heart. Prepare yourself for the Bridegroom.
Christ is coming to lead us home.
Mary Pezzulo, “Lent Reveals The Desert,” February 25, 2017
Link:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/steelmagnificat/2017/02/lent-reveals-desert/
The desert is always a wellspring of consolation because it is there that we meet Jesus Christ, Soter, in our brokenness.
Gonzalinho
In this version of the poem, “multitudes” is substituted for “hordes.”
ReplyDeleteI eat dry bread...
I eat dry bread in the desert:
It tastes like a cake of dust.
I breathe in and out powdery clouds:
Nostrils singe, snorting fire.
I swallow my own saliva:
Thick paste coats my inside throat.
How will I sustain my journey in this land
When my mouth is filled with sand?
I falter inside a steel kettle, sparks popping about.
Black footprints flame at the edges.
I am dried up, a gourd rattling seeds.
Heat waves deceive like the devil.
Thirsty, I lick at a mirage with my eyes.
Twisting, I glimpse the taskmaster sun.
Hands astride hips, he glares mercilessly,
Glowering white noon death rays.
The sky is livid, a clown murderer, crimson lips, grinning.
He spills sacksful of hot ash from above.
Multitudes, buried alive, scratch at the insides of a wooden coffin.
Spiritless as the burning air gone lifeless,
I am dark as a moonless, starless sky,
Staggering in an expanse unbounded beyond extreme sight,
Devoid of any atom of hope,
Despair, a universe expanding endlessly.
Originally published in Cecile’s Writers (August 28, 2016)
Gonzalinho
As nouns the difference between multitude and horde is that multitude is a great amount or number, often of people, while horde is a wandering troop or gang, especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people (originally Tatars) migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc., a predatory multitude.
ReplyDeleteLink: http://wikidiff.com/horde/multitude
Gonzalinho