A. W. Kindness

from   A NOISE OFFERING

                                                                  CANCRIZANS

                                                              earth enacts lines   bent at length to angles
                                                         names to walk along  timed by the heart
                                                    east to west by all crabwise means
                                              field of hunger no food can sate
                                         reverse movement willed or forced to be filed
                                      from above    aerial long shot in reserve
                                  taste not so much a matter of sensate form
                               reset ten-limbed in curvilinear state
                           alms for fiddling tuned sidelong to steer
                        tide to life    file under diet
                    ate some unsuspecting loud jaw slam
             gleans an answer that the prey still hopes to eat      



                                           RICERCAR  2

                   reserve a table soon
                        earlier than chased gong
                           sounds with conditioned mallet
                               echoing the locked jaw
                                   rigor mortis of molars
                                      vengeance of desiccating spittle
                                           exit permit for whom  



                                                       VIOLINS IN UNISON

                               for what we are about                            present utensils
                               for what we are                                   positions at the ready
                               for what we                                                    take aim
                               for what                                                    victims of duty
                     chew   swallow       chew   swallow         chew   swallow
                                                                   ingest

THE GOD MACHINE

I
   The junkie in a moment of relative lucidity suggested the analogy of a telecommunications switchboard for the nervous system's interface with consciousness. For the sake of the schema you could suppose amphetamines and caffeine, for example, as plugging into a connection of intensive stimulation and an impulse to (hyper)activity, the barbiturate line leads to a slackened focus adrift, demanding reiterated assurances of ontological integrity, alcohol says hello to short-term enhanced self-confidence, downward transcendence of reflexes, including conditioned inhibitions and the like. Get thru to Indian hemp weed for heightened sense impressions, unexpected associations of ideas, retrovisions of images from buried dreams. With heroin or morphine all the plugs are pulled, call it cancellation or negation or goodbye if you must dare, lights out on the whole switchboard. Is this the converse of a conversion, or could it be classed as a conversion in its own right?

				         II

		pharmacodynamic remedies for a wearied world
		« this is it » said Art Pepper
		when he first shot up smack
		Tadd   Fat Girl   Moose the Mooche
		Yardbird    Red     brethren of the syringe
		Lou Reed's magnificat     « Heroin »  the song
		angel of fear on your back
		us this week our weekly fix    
		come all ye    join the club
		fast        honour thy mother's little
		shake your    meet your      light strikes
		how we need salvation like we
		need a hole in the arm

		nitrous oxide  or fool for god 	
		who cannot stop laughing but for
		lacrimae reum      extract of laughter

		                              the martyred saints are bled dry
		in safe keeping with dietary rules
		imbibing of bhang at puja        ¿ entheogen 
		or just for good times' sake ?
		casual not for castes         if nothing
		is taboo  can anything be sacred

		hack at the shell for breakthru   
		hatch to find the hungry predator
		gaping    ¿ parents ?    welcome to the world
		
		suckled by Gaia    weaned on mass-produced
		dummies    trading as Bacchic    forget copyright
		the mysteries    the Bacchanals    lush life
		joy juice eyes forget to eat
		gutter full of maenads   splayed limbs
		cell drive    reaching for tomorrow's nipple

		ill at ease in the body
		the soul      where else is it

		no false substitutes for the all-merciful 
		tautology   other than which there is
		no tautology     no wine to pass
		believers' lips     no unbled carcasses on
		the menu      no women to make
		the call to prayer     no games
		of chance     no usury     no insurance
		everything's taboo     what can be sacred

		paying no heed to exchange values
		under the red  green and yellow
		chalice full of ganja   rejoice    share
		the herbal health of the nation

			               III

		members of the machine   click   familiar 
		notes emanate from the core voiceprint
		holding master nouns in their hand
		the automatic telling of the sacrament
		we've had human     now for transhuman
		a chip with a world view

		praised be the chip for wonders
		of gold     virtual   raw or cleansed
		sacrosanct assets with optimum conversion rates
		our debts written off as forgiveness
		we've had industrial     now for cyber
		guaranteed kickbacks     a chip with attitude

		push button C   cocaine or Christ
		press the machine  till it howls
		adjust balance on pin      no response
		wound down to blankness    terminal entropy
		we've had derivatives    now for indulgences
		a chip implant of one's own

		elevation failed   then aspersion   try genuflexion
		sucking every accessible knob       to screw
		the machine back into life       don't
		even imagine a world minus machine
		we've had divine    now for post-divine
		smart chip to end all chips 

A. W. Kindness was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, now resident in London. Work published some time ago in Angel exhaust, Fire, Memes, Object permanence, Phebe, Terrible work, more recently online in Molly Bloom, Amethyst Review.

 
 

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