Both Man And Monster
© Surazeus
2025 03 29

If I misunderstand how the red snow falls
the gold-eyed cat who lounges on my porch
could explain secret of romantic faith
in failure of books to describe the truth
about the nature of ancestral dreams
encoded in tribal myths I invent.

The frog that climbs up window of my heart
tries to hide eerie glow of the weird moon,
but I see its shadows in every room,
even during the day when angry birds
declare their sovereignty in tangled trees
with beautiful songs that make my heart ache.

Before sunset I wander into town
and sit in the back of the smoky bar
to eat fish and chips and stare at the lake
while people stand before the microphone
and read their secret-coded poetry
to supportive cheers of their fellow poets.

Crouching on moon-gold beach of the large lake,
I write lines of verse in the gleaming sand
about the United States of Ionia
through which cabal of poets in black robes
rule the world with slick advertising slogans,
till the turtle nibbles at my right hand.

The bittersweet sorrow of our strange world
cries out in mindless song of windy rain
that cannot be translated into words
so I become the silence of my voice
that folds my fears into pages of books
which transform into spirit-haunted trees.

I dismiss with tragic wave of my hand
every opinion that clutters my mind
in vain attempt to sweep them all away
and clear blinding illusions of despair,
but spiderweb of truth ensnares my hand
with sticky nonchalance of sly disgust.

I refuse to be absolute for death
except as fateful end that traps us all,
for I resist the nothingness of fate
with cautious assertion of faint desire
to keep on living without trying hard,
savoring sensations of pleasurable pain.

Both Beowulf and Grendel are described
by the Unknown Poet with raven quill
with similar terms as both man and monster,
the same as Gilgamesh and Enkidu,
demonic spirit in civilized man,
twins contesting to understand red snow.

surazeus.blogspot.com/2025/03/…

Orpheus visits grave of his mother by the lake of silver fish.

#Poetry #Poem #Pastoral #Necropastoral #MetaModernism #MetaRomanticism #NewSublimity #NewRomanticism #AmericanDream #Cinemism #Existentialism #Surrealism #NegativeCapability #NewGnosticism #MetaRealism #NewTranscendentalism #Astarism