By  Diane di Prima*


Extract the juice which is itself a Light.


Pulp,   manna,   gentle

                    Theriasin, ergot

like mold on flame, these red leaves

bursting

                    from mesquite by the side

of dry creekbed.         Extract



the tar, the sticky

substance

                    heart

                                of things

(each plant a star,        extract



the juice of stars

                                by circular stillation

smear

            the inner man w/the coction

till he burn

            like worms of light in quicksilver

not the false

            puffballs of marshfire,      extract



the heart of the empty heart

                     it is full

of the star soul that paces fierce

in the deeps of earth

                       the Red Man,

                                                 healer

in furs

            who carries a club

who carries

             the pale homunculus

in his belly.

                         For you are angel, you call

the soul from plants



                      or pearls of ambergris

out of the grudging sea.

                       Extract arcanum.  Separate

true Archeus from the false

                       the bitter

is not less potent—nor does clarity

bespeak truth.



                        Out of the heart of the ineffable

draw the black flecks of matter

                               & from these

the cold, blue fire.

                               Dry water.   Immerse

yourself

              though it be but a drop.

                                                           This Iliaster

flowers like the wind.

               Out of the ash, the Eidolon of the world



Crystalline.

                  Perfect.