A Rhetoric Of A Circle Poem by Dorina Brandusa Landen

I

Bless this too vast country
a shadow of a benumbed flag in a wintery sky
and the snowy field asleep
in a northern viscous night.
This overwhelming crowd
with its prances and its cars
people like hoar frost
and their version of humanity.

Bless
those who rob you and exhausts you
full of promises of happiness
and freedom of exchange
winning you
at the manly game of hunting without blood
wrapping you in their love
hot as a muzzle of a rifle.

Bless the little people
crowned in public markets
their implacableproclamations
and all the sorrows
that torture your flesh.

Oh, don't be afraid
the rest of your days are provided
a primed grenade
is resting next to you!

II

Never mind that I am
on the other side
and between us is a whirlpool river.
Suffocated by today
alone in the face of tomorrow
we must embark
our miserable debts
on a new adventure.

III

Solitary elders or wild gorgeous youngsters
revolve around their own space-
a vision of a never-ending waltz of life-
I'm never in my circle
but in between.

You fall off and get up from inside outwards
and from the outside inwards
you climb and descend bone by bone
large scale of a patience of steel
few coloured joys
they are no longer
only in the annals of history
of those who have patiently built their abode.

To save your skin
it is important to sit in a circle
this is the purpose of education.

IV

Like long grasshoppers
the merchants of the century have multiplied
they haven't forgotten to laugh to themselves
of our cracked hands
filled with abstract wealth.
Here they arrive meaty and juicy
and while they are talking to us
about the land of plenty
we go aimlessly in a circle
neither forwards nor backwards.
They have overlooked
those struck by the times
those lost in a snowstorm
in foreign mountains amongst trees
on branches bustle with dreams.

They love us more
fallen to the ground -
bona fide citizens
panting of powerlessness in a present
that lasts since the death.

V

No need to bow your head
to look into untroubled waters
You'll see just another face
devoid of shade and colour
outrun only by your eyes -
expression of a whole being-
setting in clarity this moment
or flashing forth an illusion.
But behold the other eyes
always open are lurking
thousands of eyes - broken headlights
petrified in a sterile stop
suddenly they are looking back from the fountain
frolicking in too much sky
yet where silence is so deep.

A chimera crosses the circle of the sky
and gaze upon you sadly
in its broken mirror.

VI

Time reaps wheat
we'll never ever know enough its ear
we'll never ever taste enough its seed.
The liturgy of the summer defoliates the trees
turns off every lights inside us
and we only get the shadow on the ground
when the pyres of winter
write on our skin long lines.

The night comes
and if I'm awake
I can hear the rustle of the hours
in their peaceful passing.
A half comes and a half goes
but I'm in need of the whole time.

VII

The sequence of a flying bird
melts into the sky
into you it rises despairing
the sins of fears
the good deeds and
a crystal hand - in anticipation
shakes the foundation
of the others and their lives.

VIII

Maybe we are far too liberal
too unyielding or
we lack feelings
to revive the love
from the innocence of children
kneading people from snow.

But how can you be free
when you find yourself
face to face
circle into circle
within death?

IX

Here they arrived along with the snow
solitary and feral
suicides of the great glaciers
with glistening sweat
at the nostrils of those who run the chains
gathering one by one
before the fall of darkness.

Some die
specifically die
some tear themselves apart.

They were born for this night
their blood shall be sprinkled on us
even if it should perish.

I sleep with my hands as some bouquets
a sleep so hard that seems like a milestone
in the cold delirium of winter
a freezing split stone is filled in with the moon
a wound closed on its perfect scar.

X

I turn around
discontent amongst the discontents
I'm not saying anything to anyone
and leave thinking
we live in such a delirious era.