poetry by dennis hammerschlag

Eat the rich

 

Rape the bitch

 

This is the land for which

We fought with

Common suffering

 

Fruit of Africa

Brute breeding

Brought to this

Feeding

Whole

In a suit

 

Intent to disguise

This is the ruling party

 

Prized from the ranks

 

Giving

 

Thanks.

* * * * *

THOUGHT

Make-up of the sky

Wry conjecture
Forms in a function

Once alive
Once dead
Perhaps the head
Or some substance
Along the way

Lay abstract
Found
Or still undiscovered
Of which we are not
Even the smallest part


Beloved
The dream in life
Without living
In a dream

* * * * *

used

Stay near the plug

Let it shine through

Let it all

Get through to you.

Listen well

The force dictates

Relax those keen

And heavy gates

Ravage

Your brain

Again

And again

Untouched

It dies

Just the same

* * * * *

january

Black back grounded Prado

Misty in the winter streets.

Nanny goated Goya silent

Happy once

Happy still

But silent.

Violent once

Violent still

But happy

Entombed beneath Madrid.

Released upon the pavements

Copies wait

To tempt the maddened eye.

Caught painters jest and shy

At reality and tourists

Morality and jurists

From behind closed window panes

Siesta’d in the midday rush

Swords lie quietly

Purses empty

Stuffed bulls don’t make a sound

Just the rhythm

Of the traffic

And the cold

Deep red streams of life

Conducted

Quickly to their mould

With computers soon

Not satan

To feed upon the fold.

* * * * *

HOPELESS

HOMELESS

DESPERATE

DEGENERATE

CLOTHES WHICH LACK

HOPE

FRAYED

BLACKENED ROPE

AND ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S

FINERY HAS CAUGHT YOU

THUS

UNARMED

IN A LIFE OF PLENTY

SUN AND WIND AND RAIN

AND ALL THE BRAIN

MANKIND DESERVES

BESTOWED ON YOU

TO WATCH

THROUGH THE WRONG END

OF A CAMERA

* * * * *

if

IF ALL THE SKY

WERE PAINTED RED

AND PEOPLE LIVED

WITHOUT A HEAD

WOULD YOU STILL BE

THE SAME IN BED ?

* * * * *

patience

Needed offer

Proffered to sufficiency

Inhumed

Assumed

Sucking

Clinging

With the strength of death

In her relaxing

Vibrant

Coloured

Tender

Taxing

No distance

No defeat

Milking every thought

Chewing each desire

Conceding until the meat

The waste

Lies still.

* * * * *

nhlangano

Sucked to sleep

Rank and file

Beguiled bile

Fit to reap

The poison of pleasure

Muted measure

Lost treasure

Even as I wrong

Guide the song

Develop through the muster

Classify the cluster

In the rain

Gorge the fantasy of hunger

Monger until the calm

Pervades the pain

And reason grades

The future

Formally

* * * * *

ZOOLAKE

WILLOW TREE

Oozing gently

Mattered

Golden

Light

Twilight

Of the seasons

Heralding the night

Blinding me with sight

* * * * *

SMILE. . .

I LOVE YOU

WHEN YOU SMILE

THAT DEEP MELANCHOLY

NOT SHATTERED BY LAUGHTER

BUT CARVED IN A SMILE

CROWDS AND LOUDS

AND WASTED WORDS

LIGHTS AND BRIGHTS

AND SWERVING THOUGHT

HOPELESS TANGLES

ROTATING ON LUST

BUST WIDE OPEN

AND REJECTED

BY YOUR SMILE

* * * * *

Because we both

Meeting new people

Who cannot take our crowd

And are living whatever piece

Price has paid

To convene

It

Because we

Can redeem it

With anything is possible

It exposes us as well

Sell the favour

Buy the food

Conjure every

Tender mood

That lies

Circuit printed pattern

Because we

Gross

Overbearing

Frog of identity

Sacred pet

Wet

Or squashed along the road

Blocked because we

Dry to set

Dissecting secret

Fresh as the wind

Then burnt

With ashes

And melted

Fresh as the air

Your love for it.

* * * * *