poem || Jeff Harrison

From The Journals Of Ms. Virginia
 
write - dozed very little - walk -
a cloudy day - we find the burning
story to be all false - heaven and
earth in the evening - read this lay
antiquary - read loot and assyrians -
& black rocks against blue waters -
WW opens the mention of JH &
exclaims shall we endure this man's
insolence no we shall bring him to
an account - all in all a day of bustle


WW says I hope never to have such
a waking dream again - call on M -
the theatre in the evening - a faithful
reproduction lost in the haze of the storm -
WW ordered a furnace of iron of the
dimensions of the human body supported
by a frame two feet from the ground &
had two small boxes made about the size
of writing desks & covered with black &
a brass plate fastened on the top with
the following inscription: They Say She
Committed Suicide Because She Cdnt
Take Another Winter In Buenos Aires


WW sd pointing to my handkerchief why
look an old rag retains life longer than the
hands what wove it - when the body & skull
burnt fiercely gave to the flames a white
silvery wavy brightness much like the waters
which had overpowered her - much akin to
a sea-weed in its element unfurls itself as a
plant of rare loveliness but taken from it is
a worthless & repulsive weed trodden under
without remorse by those who trod beside me


her eyes were wide & staring - drawn almost from
her sockets by muscle convulsion - the eyelids were
forced in - I cried out & pushed my hands at her & she
vanished quite away - my convulsions gradually ceased
& I slept - there is a very fine panther who plays with
a cannon ball - the leopard is frisky running after its tail -
they all are but the lynx is wonderfully tame - the sphinx
luckily has not shown herself since - maybe she was
only a ghost who looked a sphinx or became a ghost by
looking at a sphinx or is that a basilisk? - it is the eyes
that make her not a sphinx - unfortunate perhaps that
I am getting schooled in such beasts - WW being the 1st