Pleasures of the Harbor

Flesh still red, grilled in the wood fire with
a glass of deep, rich wine, the sweetened peppers
flesh crackling and partnered with a vinegar from
an old barrel …is there a way out of this trap?
Feeding from the other creatures after all we
Are the other creatures just as much as we are
Whatever animal this is … Pullman talks about
The soul or that guy with his information from
Mathematica man and the three part dance he
Attributes to Hegel (thesis, antithesis, synthesis)
He talks about the soul. The religionist and co-
Religionists they all redeem themselves with
That hoary undefinable character of self,
The soul. He’s a soul man. She’s a soulless bitch.
The soul departs the body. Soul’ed out. Filet of
Soul. Even Bart sells his soul (to Milhouse) and
There is a lost and lonely boy in a boat by himself.
And is this Self the earthly fragrance of a Soul
More than me in the Great Beyond the place
Unperceived. And greedy for individuation,
I ask are there previous selves? Lives led during
Other aspects of the species becoming what
Aware of the Other, or afraid of the creator
Or needful of a common … understanding?
A shitty bunch of questions, crackers stuffed
With fillings, fish and cheese, baked at an
Indian bakery or matzoh’s from the desert walk
In any case a canapé at this point. Regard
The omnivore: all this perceivable outside
Of self becomes my flesh, my blood,
My poem (my excrement). Is it all the atoms
In our cells in our hurry to the grave we can
Cause order, briefly, as the universe measures
Itself out. Is Stephen Wolfram, mathematica boy,
Right about the natural complexity and the
Way this all came about without my actually
Raising a finger, or is the Lady smiling
Trying not to laugh, like with my two year old?
Darn’ed if I know. Glory Hallelujah.


All apologies to the ghost of Phil Ochs for the title, misleading though it actually is. And I haven't read Wolfram, just reviews, though I live in the town that he lives in, or at least that Mathematica comes from. And who the blank exists within the confines of this flesh is pretty much a guess, but this I do know: the Lady is the question and how I ask it.