Hello PoetryVoting

Vote

Voting-Boards

Home

HomeFollowingInboxNotifications

Read

ReadLiftedFeedsHeartedHistoryMy poemsNew poem

Explore

ExploreOrbitsWordsTagsClassics
Log in
0
Stars
0
Embers
0
Alerts
0
Inbox

Vote

Voting-Boards

Home

HomeFollowingInboxNotifications

Read

ReadLiftedFeedsHeartedHistoryMy poemsNew poem

Explore

ExploreOrbitsWordsTagsClassics
Log in
0
Stars
0
Embers
0
Alerts
0
Inbox

The Story of My People, My History

: a drunk collage: another "epic"

 

Starting at the beginning,

letting the tilt of the backyard

lull me up then back down

in circles, to tell in turn

these stories. And so,

back as far as I know:

 

Story of My People

Tribes gathered and grew.

They counted the grains.

Depended on the seasons,

rejoiced, nay, transfigured.

Cults of the sun, of the earth

realized gods onto our plane,

they walked between

the beanrows.

 

Their features formed

and darkened, envisaged

in Our dark mirror mind.

And then faces had names

and they counted the grains.

Numerals and ocher lips

left pretty petroglyphs

but left the stone sculpted

in marble columns endraped–

Roman red over owl-blue–

but still the Bullhorns poke through!

That's me, the narrator among narrative.

Where my maternal starts

so far as I know, in the cult of Mythras,

a Taurus charging the boot of Europa.

 

Excuse me; I'm not a historian.

 

My father's people were barbarians,

I would think so.

They dispelled the civilized clout

and darkened the day and age.

Hail Mother Mary Hellen,

her whole family got burned.

A lesion across that continent,

filled with the church,

which took both my parents.

Then the American Dream.

 

My History

These gods and Names who guided and transfigured,

that framed my peoples, gave it to them,

I have forgotten.

Soon after seeing it all, I felt it all mundane.

Dismissed him as chaos,

left him so abundant

as to be given

not granted.

Now I sit and forget...

the enveloping leaves in the back,

the passerby from the front deck,

I remember yet!

But lost in adult perplexion

I fear that I've given up some ghost

who haunted my great journey

and leaves me on blank slates,

cyclical, again again, timelessly:

Myhistory:

 

–First it was Death who so captivated me.

Like any friend, too, I shivered and cried secretly.

Literally. No thing really, nothing really.

–Then Love came swift, sharp,

unrecquitting, then unremitting, then spent.

–Then Earth spoke wonders and tremors

seemed God incarnate, Life this is,

gotrees growmy skull I don't know,

guess it don't come down to much more.

–Now music and the capture of the present:

Where am I? and what is this place?

let me sing you the questions!

 

But where is God in my voice?

I want rockn'roll and adventure

that can't be grace;

it's idolatry.

Maybe God really is dead,

you lose him like the holiday superheroes

or ancient mythoids,

age age into forget.

Request permission to use this poem
Written by
anthony-brautigan
28 / M / American
Published
Jan 11, 2014
Lines·Words
81·413
Notes

Four people asked me if I "was okay/alright?"

Thought it time to drink alone and compose a poem.

Permission

Request to use this poem

Tell anthony-brautigan how you would like to use it. We review requests before forwarding them.

AboutBlogFAQPrivacyTermsContact
© 2009-2026 Hello Poetry/v27.0 by @eliotyork
Explore
Hello PoetryVoting
Write