Bestiarum
Pity the wagtail, the handful of mugwort,
the two loons and swan maidens lusting
after sundogs; pity vomit, exogamy, bolts
of the sky placenta returning to Ginen
to yolk the demiurge; by default Hesiod
with Nyx and Erebus score four dwarfs,
who, through avatars, bring Indra and Vishnu
to the sixth age of Jain; Maya of the yuga stirs
Betrip to marry Pele under a bamboo reed,
chants the Enuma Elish, blessed by El
as Trismegistus, that Yahweh, God and
Allah joined creation powered by a blast.
Crocotta
Pliny’s anatomy — the dog-wolf crest
raised above the neck, sacrum and lux
circumcised like the tongue: tilts pelvis
to walk to the hemo-shul, fibrin-church,
lipid-mosque — plain boxes, catafalques,
and caskets of eternum, decrescendo
in the über-after of a measured exile,
prior to the fall, on a stag’s haunches,
blinded by doom; Crocotta, eye-beast
with striped gems, forgotten moniker
of misprision lures to death, unmakes
fear — prowls. A genocide in digits.
Voiceovers as hooves, the sponsored
halos, caps really — not pomp, sport
medievalism in quotes before lunch. n
Daniel Y. Harris is a widely published poet and the author of several books of poetry including the forthcoming “The Underworld of Lesser Degrees”(New York Quarterly Books, 2014), which will include the above poems. He is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. His website is www.danielyharris.com.