Travelers Welcome

Travelers Welcome

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Theogonies—a Dithyramb

by Robert Gross

The power of air
            in the thicket of a shrouded thought
the redemption of the world
                        through water and forgetting
         
the oven has gone out
the ashcan has fallen

The power of a coin
            in the street—a godlike boulder
the redemption of the world
            through stain and stupefaction

the key chain snaps
the small talk scatters

At the start it was all
            teapots and doilies
                        the proper parson’s parlor
all potpourri
                        and phillipians
the kettle wheezed
                        and it ruptured
            shattering the wedgewood
                                    driving the flock
                        gibbering into jivey dialectics

The power of sleaze
            in the scramble up the stairs
the redemption of the world
            through rock crystal and rot
the mutation of alien thoughts
            in bed and boardroom

What is the dance for
            dry rot and distance
                        the wordless weeping wobble
all chainlink
                        and charleston
the jeté freezes
            at the jolt of a jeremiad
the blindfolded danseur caught
            between barre and backroom
                         arabesques
                                    in sharp-ribbed panic

The power of grief
            in the remaking of manifestos
the redemption of the world
            through whirlwind and wisecrack
the tea cosy is split
            the thoroughfare has become a thicket

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