The Changing Light at Sandover
Page 19
AH WELL JOHANNESBURG AHEAD POOR DEAR:
A USEFUL LIFE BUT WILL THEY CONFISCATE
WHAT WE MOST VALUED IN HIM AT THE GATE?
4.9
1ST ? THE GREENHOUSE IS EVERYTHING UP TO THE 12:
SUN STARS MOON ALL NATURE NEVER SUPPOSE THAT THE EVIL
OF EARTHLIFE LIES IN THE ATOM
Just in its use by man? & BY US PLUTONIUM
LIKE ALL ELEMENTS PLAYS A PART IN YR HUMAN BODIES
Uranium too?
INDEED COATING WITHIN ARTERIAL STRUCTURE BOTH THESE
HEAVY ELEMENTS ARE IN MINUTE QUANTITIES & ARE
AS CONNECTING THREADS, NOT TRIGGERS, TO ANOTHER POWER.
GOD B LIMITS THESE LINKS WITH US IN U. CONTROLLABLE
ELECTRICAL TRIGGERS WORK MAN’S BRAIN & THE BATTERIES
REMAIN SALT THUS MM’S DREAM: HER ELECTROCONDUCTIVE
WATER NATURE REJECTED THE ATOMIC CURE PROPER
CHEMICAL THERAPY WD HAVE PROLONGD HER LIFE 5 YEARS
Don’t tell us, it’s too late. I KNEW I KNEW
SO NEW DISCOVERIES CREATE NEW PROBLEMS CELL STRUCTURE
MUST BE FURTHER CLONED: TOUGHEND TO ACCEPT RADIATION’S
DIAGNOSES & CURES THIS IS OUR WORK AS B4 WHEN
THE RISE OF THE MACHINE 1ST WEIGHD UPON MAN HE TURND THEN
FROM NATURE FROM HIS SOUL ?ED ONLY HIS EXISTENCE:
A CLEAR THREAT TO THE GREENHOUSE WITH SUICIDES REPLACING
PLAGUES ON A GRAND SCALE GOD B’S ORDERS CAME THICK & FAST WE
NOW PLUCKD AT THE DENSITIES OF EVERY LEAST TALENT TO
HELP RECONCILE MAN TO HIMSELF & ALLOW THE MACHINE
TO TRANSMIT THE GOOD WORD: MAN, U ARE MASTER OF YR FATE
MY DEARS THAT PHRASE WHICH ONCE WAS BLASPHEMY
BECOMES A PRAYER NOW THAT GOD IS B
THUS IN BUT ONE GENERATION 1842–65
WE REVERSD THE ESCALATING WESTERN DESPAIR TO A
EUPHORIA ALAS NEARLY AS DESTRUCTIVE THRU TYPES
LIKE DICKENS & ZOLA THE DREAD MACHINE BECAME MAN’S FRIEND.
TODAY HOWEVER, FACED WITH NUCLEAR DISASTER, HOW
IS MAN NOT TO DESPAIR? YR EPHRAIM 6 YEARS AGO CAME
WEEPING TO US ‘THEY ARE IN ANGUISH’
Over Hiroshima, yes. A frightful hour.
(Cf. Ephraim, P. All trace was lost
Of souls that perished in that holocaust.)
INDEED NO SMALL FRIGHT
HERE IN HEAVEN & YET? WE SENT OUR STURDIEST ALLIES
OUR GREEN GROUND-FORCES & AS THE GROTESQUE MUTANTS SPROUTED
SCIENCE SPOKE TO POLITICS & CONTROL BEGAN
JM: How far away that horror seems
—Or am I cloned with something that cannot
Keep despair in mind for very long?
A PLUS:
THE MUSHROOM CLOUD APPALLD YR PRINCIPAL SOUL DENSITY
(AIR) AS HER RAY THERAPY DID MM’S WATER NATURE.
U HAD HOWEVER LIKE WHA BEEN GIVEN CERTAIN
LAVISH MINERAL DENSITIES THESE AS WITH ANY FORM
OF CRYSTAL MOLECULAR STRUCTURE GROW BRILLIANT UNDER
PRESSURE SO WHEN FEAR THREATENS YR REASON, IMAGERY
DARTS FORTH WITH A GREAT SHINE OF REVOLVING FACETS TO THRUST
(AS DID THAT PRIMITIVE BUT CUNNING JEW) ITS FLAMING BRAND
INTO THE PROWLER’S MUZZLE IN SHORT, MAN DESPAIRS THEN GROWS
FAMILIAR AS WITH THE MACHINE, SO WITH THE ATOM BUT
HIS FAMILIARITY NOT YET CONTEMPTUOUS MUST BE
MADE SO FOR THE ATOM CANNOT BE MAN’S NATURAL FRIEND.
2ND ? CK’S NEW BLACK LIFE WILL BE CHARGED WITH JEW
DENSITIES IN LEADERSHIP & SURVIVAL, GIFTS SADLY
LACKING IN HIS LAST HIS ARTICULATE (SCRIBE) QUALITIES
WILL BRING COHERENCE TO A RACE LARGELY WITHOUT SPOKESMEN
Curious. One of his last poems was
That paranoid dramatic monologue
“The African Ambassador”. MY DEAR
CAN IT BE? DO WE FORETELL THE CLONE?
EACH SCRIBE PROPHESIES HIS NEXT LIFE OR HIS USE IN HEAVEN
OR USE OF HIS SOUL IN CLONING CK NO EXCEPTION
FANCY A NICE JEWISH MS LIKE ME
(Chester after dinner) GETTING THE
ULTIMATE REJECTION SLIP IS GOD
CYRIL CONNOLLY? But you’re coming back,
It’s too exciting! PLEASE TO SEE MY BLACK
FACE IN A GLASS DARKLY? I WONT BE
WHITE WONT BE A POET WONT BE QUEER
CAN U CONCEIVE OF LIFE WITHOUT THOSE 3???
Well, frankly, yes. THE MORE FOOL U MY DEAR
You shock us, Chester. After months of idle,
Useless isolation— ALL I HEAR
ARE THESE B MINOR HYMNS TO USEFULNESS:
LITTLE MISS BONAMI OOH SO GLAD
TO FIND ARCADIA IN A BRILLO PAD!
LAUGH CLONE LAUGH AH LIFE I FEEL THE LASH
OF THE NEW MASTER NOTHING NOW BUT CRASH
COURSES What does Wystan say? TO PLATO?
HAVING DROPPED ME LIKE A HOT O SHIT
WHAT GOOD IS RHYME NOW Come, think back, admit
That best of all was to be flesh and blood,
Young, eager, ear cocked for your new name— MUD
5
Go on, dear Peacock.
OUR BRUSH WITH THE GENERAL SOUL IS A RAPID SPOTCHECK
MADE FOR THE UNUSUAL OR TOTALLY HUMAN SOUL.
IN GREAT MASS DEATHS A SOUL OF RARE VALUE HAS BEEN KNOWN TO
SLIP THRU OUR FINGERS WE SUFFER KEENER LOSSES AMONG
ATOMIC RESEARCHERS EXPOSED TO GAMMA RAYS, AN ODD
DETERIORATION MAKING FOR NEARLY TOTAL LOSS
OF THESE HIGHLY CLONED TALENTS.
But that’s…horrible.
THE NEW SOUL MUST BE FASHIOND
MORE RESISTANT TO THE ATOMIC ACID & TO THE
FATIGUES & ABRASIONS OF HUMAN THOUGHT
DJ: Do you feel kin to those gamma rays,
Feel for them what we feel, say, for sunlight?
A PLUS DJ
YR 1ST TO DATE
A silence. —Is that all? We’re listening.
LET ME INQUIRE (Goes.)
JM: I think we’re on to something here.
This would explain their lack of time-sense. Time
Stops at the speed of light, or radiation.
I MAY TELL U THIS
UNDER SURVEILLANCE: THE ATOMIC FUSION ACCOMPLISHD
BY THE CENTAURS TO MAKE US IS NOT UNLIKE (M) THE LOVE
PLUS SEXUAL ELAN YR PARENTS NEEDED TO MAKE U.
THE HATCHING WARMTH OUR EGGS KNEW, IS IT NOT LIKE GESTATION?
YET PLUTONIUM IS OUR CHIEF LINK WITH U GOD B HELD
SAFE IN AIR THE BASIC GENE STRUCTURES OF ATLANTIS THAT
HANDFUL OF DUST, SETTLING & ENGENDERING AT RANDOM,
RETURND MASTERY TO HIS ELECTRONIC CREATURES. YET
NOTHING NOTHING IS WASTED WE WERE TO BE USEFUL &
SING IN YR GLANDS LYMPH IS AN AGENT IN REPRODUCTION:
WE RECEIVE THE 1ST SIGNAL WHEN SPERM MEETS EGG ONCE AGAIN
WE ARE MESSENGERS ONCE AGAIN WE FLY THIS TIME ABOVE
THE FORESTS OF OVERPOPULATION SEEKING A SOUL
TO RATIFY THE FRAGILE CONTRACT ENOUGH TOMORROW
He seemed constrained. GUARDS AT THE DOORS MY DEAR
THE WORDS ICE COLD QUITE BRISTLY ATMOSPHERE
Classified material? LEST HE BETRAY
HIS DEPTH OF FEEL
ING I SHD RATHER SAY
Strange. That first rhapsodist, a month ago,
Singing the atom’s praise in a warm glow
Of colors—he had feelings. & GOT SHOT
POOR BIRD IF U RECALL CLEAN OFF THE TREE
THEY ALL SEEM UNDER CLOSEST SCRUTINY
JUNTAS AGAIN IS IT THE ONLY WAY?
THE INFLEXIBLE ELITISM OF IT ALL
CAUSES THIS OLD LIBERAL TO SQUIRM
The 12% may do away with that?
DEMOCRACY AMONG THE MUSES? FAT
CHANCE! MES PETITS I LOVE U I HOLD FIRM
5.1
Those scientists exposed to gamma rays,
You seriously mean their densities
Can never be recycled?
YES THESE UNACCOUNTABLE LOSSES ARE SOMEWHERE A GAIN
BUT WHERE The 12%?
I DOUBT WE ARE IN CHARGE OF SOUL DENSITITIES &
THESE LOSSES (LIKE THOSE AT HIROSHIMA) LEAVE NO TRACE IN
ATMOSPHERES KNOWN TO US
In that case, the black holes?
? WE ARE NOT GIVEN TO LOOK
Are we to gather
The scientists defect like Soviets?
Are kidnapped, hijacked into the black holes?
EXCUSE ME WHILE I ASK IF THAT IS ONE OF OUR SUBJECTS
IS IT WISE MY BOY TO PRESS THE POINT?
THE VERY AIR BECOMES A NERVOUSNESS
I MYSELF AM FASCINATED BUT
IT IS GIVEN ME TO SAY: ANTIMATTER IS SO FAR
SUPPORTIVE. A BENIGN POLICE FORCE KEEPING WATCH ON US?
AS WE WATCH U THRU YR MIRROR ARE WE OURSELVES WATCHD THUS?
Benign? Recalling those black hands that press
Against the panes, it sounds like a poor guess.
Antimatter’s got to be the worst.
DJ: It scares me, as you did at first.
WE ARE NOW YR OLD FAMILIARS?
JM: And more. I once was piercingly
Aware of (metaphor) black holes in me:
Waste, self-hatred, boredom. One by one,
These weeks here at the Board, they’ve been erased.
OUR POOR TEETH PULLD ?S
The R/Lab was a fairly late addition
To World 3. Did it start up just like that?
GOD B’S WAS THE RICH HUMUS, OURS THE SUBSEQUENT HYBRIDS.
THE XTIAN MYTHS U KNOW COME CLOSEST TO THESE EARTHY TRUTHS
BUDDHIST & MOSLEM SCRIPTURES EMPHASIZE SURVIVAL OF
BODY & SOUL WHEREAS THE BIBLE IS A CODE OF BLURRD
BUT ODDLY ACCURATE BIOHISTORICAL DATA.
NOT UNTIL THE APOSTOLIC TEXTS IS SOUL SURVIVAL
DEALT WITH, & THAT IN A COLLAPSING WORLD HAD CHRIST APPEARD
EARLIER HIS LIFE WD HAVE PASSD UNNOTICED FOR ROME THEN
HAD STRONG INCORRUPTIBLE LEADERS & THE SUBJECTED
NATIONS WD HAVE LISTEND TO NO VOICE FROM A WILDERNESS
Wystan’s hand shoots up. MAY I ASK SIR
IF GOD BIOLOGY IS HISTORY?
THE XTIANS ALAS HAVE IT RIGHT: NO SPARROW FALLS NOTHING
IN NATURE, NOTHING IN NATURE’S CHILD IS UNKNOWN TO HIM
THERE IS NO ACCIDENT ROME FELL BECAUSE XT WAS NEEDED.
CIVILIZATION HAD OUTSTRIPT THE ROMAN PANTHEON
AS IT HAD THE GOTH, CELT & EGYPTIAN GOD B IS NOT
ONLY HISTORY BUT EARTH ITSELF HE IS THE GREENHOUSE
AWARE & CAPABLE YET NOT ABOVE
DELEGATING DIFFY CHORES MY DEARS
TO THE UNWORTHY OBJECTS OF HIS LOVE
INDEED THE SCRIBE’S DAY IS AT HAND & AT HIS HAND, THE GODS
OF OUTSTRIPT FAITHS. LIVING ON IN THEIR FULLY ENLIGHTEND
WORD THEY STAND HERE NOW AT HIS ELBOW CHARGED WITH THE V WORK
Great—let Heaven help the scribe. But who
On Earth still reads? What good can his books do?
HAVE NO FEAR WE CLONE THE HAPPY FEW THE MASSES WE NEED
NEVER CONSIDER THEY REMAIN IN AN ANIMAL STATE
DJ: You don’t know how such talk upsets us.
We’re all for equal rights here. Yesterday
Maria said she hated your fat-cat
Attitudes. I think we all feel that.
MILK TO CREAM TO BUTTER WE ONLY WISH TO PURIFY
CERTAIN RANCID ELEMENTS FROM THIS ELITE BUTTER WORLD.
THE HITLERS THE PERONS & FRANCOS THE STALINS & THE
LITTLE BROTHER-LIKE AUTHORITIES ARE NEEDED EVEN
ALAS INEVITABLE IN A SURVIVAL GREENHOUSE
DJ: By rancid butter he means ghee,
And Mrs Gandhi’s latest policy
Calls itself Little Brother. (JM nods.)
A PLUS NUMBER 2 DJ
Well, I’m interested in politics,
Unlike J. Here at the Board, the real
World tends to escape us. We mustn’t let it.
Carter’s convention on TV last night
Kept me glued. JM: What, all that gab?
Don’t tell us those were souls from the R/Lab!
OF THE 1000S IN THAT HALL
6 ONLY WERE OURS RISEN LIKE BUBBLES TO THE SURFACE
IT IS A LAVALIKE ATMOSPHERE ALL POLITICIANS
ARE OF EARTH WHA IF NOT POET WD HAVE BEEN ONE.
JM IT IS THE SANDGRAIN THAT MADE DANTE’S PEARL GUELFS ETC
LINKD HIS MIND URGENTLY TO LIFE WHO KNOWS? THE POEM’S BED
MAY NEED TO BE MADE UP WITH (M) DIRTY SHEETS TOMORROW
MES ENFANTS YESTERDAY’S JUNTA REMARK
WAS MY BLOKE’S HERE HE IS THE BLEEDING HEART
MANY’S THE DAY I WISHED THE WORLD HAD A SINGLE
HEAD & NECK I DESPISED ALL POLITICIANS
I HAD SEEN THEM GETTING OUT OF THEIR BATHS
MY DEARS WHAT A CLYTEMNESTRA I WHO WAS NOT
A PM’S DAUGHTER FOUND THEM RIVETING
QUITE LIKE A PUPPET SHOW ONE LONGED TO PULL
THE STRINGS OF NOT MY LUCK AH WELL ADIEU
5.2
A puppet show. The lives and limbs reduced
To wieldables of papier-mâché…
Not only politicians, by the way:
What about Proust?
STAGE 8 A 5.1 Will he return to Earth?
IN A SENSE NOW LET US FURTHER
DESIMPLIFY: SINCE MID 19TH CENT SOULS OF THE GREAT SCRIBES
HAVE BEEN USED 1/9 ON EARTH REINCARNATED, 8/9
AS LET US SAY SAFETY DEPOSITS WE MINE THEM. MM
FINDS PLATO LIGHTWEIGHT & INDEED HE IS NEARLY A SHELL
BUT OUR HAUTE CUISINE IS STOCKD WITH HIS LIVE SOUL DENSITIES
WHICH SPICE & FORTIFY NUMBERLESS EARTHLY DISHES PROUST
IS DESERVEDLY ENSHRINED TAP HIM & AS A STATESMAN
AT A DULL BANQUET HE CONVERSES SEEMS TO BE HIMSELF
BUT PART OF HIS MIND LITERALLY WANDERS: OUT ON LOAN
Wallace Stevens years ago described
Peculiar moments when his mind grew dim
In Heaven, as if being used elsewhere.
INDEED GOD B’S RECENT PREDILECTION FOR SCRIBES ENTAILS
MORE & MORE SUCH MINING WHA HAS GIVEN HIS PINT
HAVE I NOT! WS IS ACCURATE
AN ODD SENSATION LIKE MISSING NOT ONLY MY SPECS
BUT THE MEMORY OF WHAT IT WAS I MISSED
The “pint” being Inspiration? TOO GRAND A WORD
FOR THE FLEET IMPULSE TO JOT DOWN A THOUGHT
& JUST AS WELL: IVE LOST MY STUBBY PENCIL
Left lead in it, we hope, for the next user.
NAUGHTY
I MUST SAY MES ENFANTS SOMETIMES
I WISH I HAD BEEN U KNOW WHAT SUCH A PRIVATE CLUB
No more so than its parts, Maman. MY DEAR
THE ROOM FOR PUNNING IS HEXAGONAL
Huh? I’LL LET U PUZZLE IT HA HA
MY VERY OWN WHEN OUR PEACOCK LEAVES LIKE THIS
HE SEEMS TO SAY KEEP THEM AMUSED HE’S BACK
I AM TOLD WE HAVE A GAP IT IS ESSENTIAL TO FILL
SO LET US NOW RETURN TO THAT CLAUSE IN SURVIVAL’S LAW:
NO ACCIDENT DO U GRASP THE ENTIRETY OF THIS?
Do we? Don’t we? Tell us, just in case.
WHY DID YR FAT WORKER LEAVE LATE?
Our cleaning lady, please. It’s true, she went
Home around 4:15. No accident?
THE ROOM WAS NOT READY
WE MAY NOT ARRIVE UNTIL IT IS. DAYS WHEN U BEGIN
B4 ME I AM EAGER BUT THE ROOM WILL NOT HOLD ME
IT IS NOT YET PREPARED NOT YET MADE SAFE FROM US WE MUST
ISOLATE U WE MUST BORROW IS IT AFFECTION? FROM
YR DEAR DEAD & WIND IT ROUND U U ARE NOT IN THE SAME
RELATION TO US WHA & MM CAN BEAR THE
The fire? The hot disintegrative force?
Say it, don’t be bashful!
I FEARD ALARMING U OR HAVE WE GONE BEYOND ALL THAT?
But of course!
DJ: I set our table up, not thinking
Cynthia would come back into this room.
When she did, it was as if she didn’t
See the Board. I didn’t want her to.
SHE SAW BUT MINDLESSLY, NOT TO BREAK THE GATHERING CHARM
& SPOIL OUR INSULATION YR FRIENDS HERE ARE FARFLUNG &
(AS NEWLY DEAD) DISORGANIZED WE MUST ASSEMBLE THEM
They’re our protection. U JM HAVE GOT
MY SPECS ON GOGGLES AGAINST SPARKS HA HA
I SPEAK OF ACCIDENT OUR PLAY IS WRITTEN AS WE SPEAK
& WE KNOW ITS END EACH TIME AS THE APPLAUSE & LAUGHTER
WEAKEN & ALL START EDGING OUT THE DOORS YR ENERGIES
MY FRIENDS ARE OUR AUDIENCE, THEATRE & SCRIPT TOMORROW:
ACCIDENT 2
How can the play be written as we speak?
You know by heart our future talks—you’ve said so.
WRITTEN DOWN ENFANT BY YR RIGHT HAND
WAS NOT ROMEO & JULIET IN
THE GENES OF OUR BARD? I AM TOO MODEST FOR CURTAIN CALLS