“Drum and Whistle” And “Black Stems,” Two Poems from luca: Discourse on Life & Death

Rochelle Owens

Dept. of English
University of Oklahoma at Norman

Drum And Whistle

 

into the vast heat of spirals because
your whitish bones

 

beating drum and whistle

 

morning sun multiplying her fingers
loosened her braids her long slow

 

searching encased skull neck body
skull neck body around roots yellow skin
floating like props looking

 

I heard crows their claws searching

 

their veins and tendons scattered
as leaves sweeten clay silt ash
your long gray hands cutting

 

measuring skull scalp parchment

 

her forearm tightens spreads over
blankets infected with plague seeding
spirals of heat loosens her braids

 

black urine runs through silt ash clay
shadowed on the walls spilling
walls spilling sand and gravel

 

a lira here a lira there

 

sutured through her ruptured flesh

 

tightens cords in Leo n a rdo’s fingers
elbow shoulder hip
And in heel of cadavre smoke invades

 

one for squirrel one for crow

 

And if you shake leaves feverish master
skin paint surgical scar riddled
bright-red stems freezing paint

 

freezing urine blood segmented cell
segmented cell by cell prototypes
saturated he then looked at a circular

 

looked at a circular house walls
sand gravel beating drum and whistle
deep-pink plague as autumn winter
rubs black clay

 

silence walls in remorseless then
she looked at a circular house
when you looked your veins multiplying
splashes black urine

 

they stare down on horseback pursing
their lips measuring ransacking
fingers crusted fibrous entrails

 

invades cadavre aluminum walls in

 

your neck to side

 

you read parts of the manuscript wrong
suppose

 

she reveals peculiar forms
them vivifying cording everyday
ash and blood whole aluminum pits

 

groups of the first Spaniards in America

 

On a second voyage to Guatemala
moves hydrogen helium

 

Lenny’s blanket wrapped around parts
of the dissection suppose red wild corn
smoke from a burning log

 

the wiry brat ejaculates
every foot-print of Flora multiplying
your long gray hands stretched your

 

gray hands stretched deer skin

 

Mona made rings gloves crowns masks
the outlines of a new country

 

Leo n a rdo seized the wrist of
the brat squeezed his throat blood
behind his teeth

 

placed the infected blankets one by one
stomach and bones crusted
for here leave sign of our fate

 

then he looked at a circular house

 

an old Osage woman crushing seeds
her iron-gray braids she gouged clay
quickly she pulls from fire

 

her saliva pools behind her teeth
she pulls from fire a pot spilling
morsels of beef half-kneeling Salia’s
mouth measures walls

 

then quickly he will fill canvas
image of a paysanne flinging
a paysanne flinging kernels

 

unwinding her smock crows their claws
dark-green stained windows of a
stained windows of a cathedral

 

exposed a new country lip-synced Sigmund

 

you wrap a blanket around your waist
folds and gathers cross and recross

 

stakes with forked ends into ground
deep-pink crust ash spirals of heat
I arch my back stretching it is
a paysanne bending

 

gracile her brow diagonal lines
skull neck you traced a scaffold
a forked tree

 

and close upon one of the horses
tendons & muscles glowing I saw Salia
beating drum and whistle

 

your palms crushing seeds showing
lines cross recross circular pulse
groups moist soil of names Quicxic
bloody wing Quicrixcac bloody claw

 

faults she gouged clay I murmured
into Lenny’s ear

 

groups of the first Spaniards in America
written on the stomach and bones
fragment shovels gravel sand clay

 

my doubt remains widening circles
circles slowly Leo n a rdo fingers
he rouges his nipples the brat stares
down from a scaffold arches his back
stretches his neck

 

riders cutting out entrails their lips
intone pulsate behind ice walls gouged
with names crossed recrossed tribes
on horseback

 

winding her iron-gray braids quickly
she fills canvas stretching roots
disgorges ancient corn plants

 

extracting one light amber stone

 

idol when gravel sand blown on wind
walls in flames of stone divided
roots

 

a black rain fell then silence and slow
soaking crust ash flames swerving
deep-pink plague a forked tree
slicing their flesh

 

resin sap sweetens moonlit vines
Sigmund mused fascinated the Lords of
Xibalba horse and rider in darkness

 

searching Guatemala still plastic tubes
glistening stared down in the Aztec inferno
in the evening light worshiped sticks
worshiped sticks of fat pine

 

I made rings gloves crowns masks
riddled with decay digging out a stone
leaving a stone

 

one for the cutworm one for the crow

 

lips whisper counting blankets infected

 

counting blankets infected with plague

 

one by one

 

They planted four acres wandering
east to west

 

from center smoke concentrated stems
burnt leaf white hearts of incense
palms arched pierced bleed names

 

Quicxic bloody aluminum faults behind
ice walls density of scalp crusted
bark a forked tree shadowed upside
down stems of moonlit vines you
mused

 

resin sap as leaves sweeten clay moss
of Florida through which blood jets

 

behind their teeth saliva red wild corn
multiplying ancient writing gouged in

 

gouged in the gourd seized a little man
Mona stares down following diagonal lines
surgical scar trusts her fibrous
skins dressing and stretching

 

measuring skull scalp parchment her
feast day

 

dark ridge of lava to north parched
halves of skulls placed one by one

 

one for the squirrel one for the crow

 

groups of the first Spaniards in America

 

they stare down on horseback

 

ride up close looking at fragments
slowly they circle you urge horse
and rider course toward in this
course toward in this direction tribes
crossed recrossed gouged signs

 

from armpit to stomach your pale
stomach your pale & gasping son loosens
his braids his throat pulsates saliva
pools behind his teeth scrotal sac
slit

 

groups of the first Spaniards in America

 

carcass stripped of its skin
bearing two halves there a scalp
two halves there a scalp sutured

 

crossed behind when they found ancient
corn plants she will fill canvas
ash autumn winter discharging
pus from slit ears

 

your doubt remains for all that
you stretch your neck instinctively

 

Mona’s attention drawn to reddish
layers glowing mudstone and sandstone
shovels gravel sand clay

 

clutches bright-red stems

 

tightens around roots woven veins
drew silence pale forests stretched
the canvas exposed ancient corn
plants shadowed upside down

 

rifles against the walls
horse and rider around the fire

 

black urine soaking clay sand
as he loosens his braids fingers
dig

 

one for the squirrel one for the crow

 

crusted torn trees crash sounds
sounds of riders cleaning rifles

 

once Salia took an axe cut moonlit
vines saw bright-red surgical scar
through which blood

 

infected with plague the trunk
of the body engulfed by the serpent
two halves of the cadavre

 

slowly such great decay
Salia covered his head with Mona’s
smock

 

child & Mona perched on Lenny’s back

 

you stare down pursing your lips
your neck to the side
plagued by doubt

 

calculating strips of wood right
to left the weight of the corpse

 

one for the cutworm

 

and the night air blazes down her
jaw fused soil grass animal outlines
muscles slowly she reverses

 

one for the crow

 

changed nature of portrait strips
calculated left to right weight
of corpse one for cutworm down
her jaw slowly reverses cunningly

 

plagued by doubt his fallen figure
stained with blood of first person

 

ransacked cunningly you urinate
spontaneously while Flora flinging
while Flora flinging kernels

 

loosens her braids her smock unwinding
murmured into Salia’s ear Luca Luca

 

I mesmerize intoned snake winding
covered their heads with blankets

 

black horns curve out sand mud
blue haze through woodland

 

a forked tree

 

you ride up close squeezing a staff
a staff with a skull splashes black urine

 

Ahalpuh he who makes pus then hip shoulder
elbow and in heel of cadavre stomach
stomach and bones stretched out

 

he stares down on horseback pursing
their lips measuring strips of soil
strips soil riddled invades bright
bright red stems circles slowly

 

calculating strips walls in aluminum
analyzing death patterns blood segmented
cell by cell

 

deep-pink plague slicing bright-red stems

 

their neck stretching left to right
their lips measuring ransacking

 

measuring ransacking entrails glistening
ash crust soaking
one for the cutworm one for the crow

 

dissected correctly counting plastic
plastic tubes filling

 

plastic tubes glowing in sunlight

 

you angled your face analyzing
death patterns

 

one light amber stone red wild corn
dark ridge gouged

 

gouged configurations ripped two
halves two halves of parchment
multiplying death patterns

 

you put slashes in through which water
through which water runs spreads over
America through silt ash silt clay

 

death patterns plague crossed

 

I heard crows their claws searching

 

riddled bright red stems one gouged
exposed your whitish bones

 

exhausted outlines gravel sand skull
neck your wrists arch backwards crushing
backwards crushing seeds she wraps
a blanket through which blood

 

slowly such great decay
she stares down plagued by doubt

 

pus from slit ears horse and rider
in darkness tubes counted
one for squirrel one for crow

 

entrails walls freezing paint stained
circles on the stomach and bones

 

you ride up close begin searching
my painting two halves cut into side
deep-pink crust heat from a burning log

 

internal and external burns glowing in sunlight
burns glowing in sunlight

 

widening a pair of jaws long slow
counting teeth burnt in fire
knife in one hand a blanket in the other
one hand a blanket in the other

 

gray hands stretched measured bones up close
ends cleaved deep-pink marrow exposed
sections you analyze the assemblage

 

death patterns outlines of a new country

 

then Mona looked at a circular house
under the trees

 

she fasted scattered cremains
scattered cremains in the morning sun

 

ash blood black clay glowing in sunlight
death patterns floating like props
backwards one by one upside down

 

image of a whipped and crucified woman
her saliva pools behind her teeth

 

then an old Osage woman crushing seeds
her palms shadowed Quicxic bloody wind
Quicrixcac bloody claw

 

notched stick end lower three long
strokes strokes from end to end

 

Flora waves her arm offering yellows
from plants from the stick toward
toward the sun her image crossed lines
paint congeals

 

you ride up close after each stroke
upper torso shadowed skull neck body

 

Salia details holes in the hands
and feet north of the fire peculiar
forms red stems splitting

 

Leo n a rdo makes a circular mark
passing his hands measuring skull scalp
parchment

 

Spaniards wearing braided silk belts
ropes used to pull the head and torso
elbows knees necks alternating

 

floating like props looking she heard

 

crows their claws searching

 

image of a whipped and crucified woman
her iron-gray braids hanging

 

end to end toward the sun following
crossed lines of paint lines cross
recross the center

 

freezing hard roots no sound no sound

 

of hoof-beats you ride up close
searching when you looked the heel
of the cadavre segmented cell by cell
encased roots

 

upper torso of the little man
multiplying seethed and probed
palms arch resin sap jets saturates
behind walls Salia’s sketch of smoke

 

lines cross recross tendons veins
clutches bright red stems measuring
two halves of a circular house

 

sides of aluminum walls you stare down
on horseback you suppose she reveals
peculiar forms groups of

 

forms groups of the first Spaniards
in America

 

Leo n a rdo paints child & Mona as
leaves sweeten lip-synced Sigmund

 

Quicrixcac bloody claw Quicxic bloody

 

bloody wind no sound no sound

 

scattered cremains in the morning sun
crossed lines of paint circles congeals
image of a whipped and crucified woman
her iron-gray braids hanging

 

---

 

Black Stems

 

scattered cremains
through a woodland near a forked

 

near a forked tree patterns seeding
and yellow blossoms hydrogen green
You scattered delicate blossoms
my forearm tightens spreads over

 

right to left red stems counted one
for crow one for cutworm

 

the first skull showing lines crossed
recrossed yellow skin raw you stare
down into heat she falls backwards
mistrusts holes in the hands and feet

 

used nails every inch death patterns

 

circles spirals cross recross every
inch nearer and nearer into heat

 

his neck stretches Ahalpuh he who
he who makes pus

 

every name shadows on the walls wind
spirals into heat spills sand gravel
you ride up close nearer and nearer

 

you use ropes to pull the head and torso

 

held her whitish bones high in air
near a forked tree broken rocks
a mile of black dust

 

whose names are gouged letters angled
white-edged your fingers through sand clay
through sand clay silt

 

your fingers tracing slant of wall
every inch mistrusts deviates

 

Tell me who assures you that this
work ever was

 

black stems sticking out letters planted
shape a headless idol crust ash then
you ride up close loosen your braids

 

hoof-beats swerving shadowed on walls
you heard crows their claws searching

 

black coals clumps of deep-pink rot
fissures death patterns backflow crossed
left to right you are drawing raw thongs

 

image of a whipped and crucified woman
your saliva pools behind your teeth

 

you lower your wrist plagued by doubt
angled letters gouged into walls nearer
and nearer smoke from a burning cross

 

smoke from a burning cross spreads over
you looked at a photograph miles of
cracked clay walls of a circular house
spilling

 

blows sand on carcass near a forked tree
near a forked tree pointed tracks

 

broken rocks stained with blood
strips calculated weight and night air
measured outlines counted

 

counted one for crow one for cutworm

 

through woodland smoke from a burning
cross mistrusts you ride up close right
right to left of corpse staring down

 

analyzing death patterns jaw crushed
pus from slit ears deep-pink marrow
deep-pink marrow exposed

 

blue haze through woodland you heard
crows their claws searching
horses passing near a forked tree

 

hooves pointed tracks death patterns
bones black horns curve out sand mud
hooves crushing entrails bright red

 

bright red stems red wild corn slowly
ash crust soaking
Ahalpuh he who makes pus you ride up
close stare down on horseback pursing

 

pursing your lips measuring claws
your neck stretches left to right nearer
and nearer