Poem: 'SOUNDS THAT ONLY THE DEAF CAN HEAR'

SOUNDS THAT ONLY 

THE DEAF CAN HEAR 

                              glistening chameleons asquat on
                              rooftops of eternal cityscapes
                              watch masked people barter for tears
                              on unnamed street corners,
                              and somewhere
                              the chant of high mass ceases…

                               liquid eyes echo defeat as troubadours
                               shift in enchanted directions, playing
                               with the sand of naked boredom where
                               ochre-tinged alleys meet in dumb crucifix
                               beneath the beating of metallic wings,
                               and somewhere, people stop singing…

                                dawn erupts over a horizon of monoliths
                                bleeding into the waters where gurus sit
                                beside the lake, watching it mirror
                                crimson towers dissolving into yesterday’s
                                forgotten ambitions, and somewhere
                                the music stops playing…

                                 poets detonate concept-bombs along cerebral
                                 molecular chains, as insects of decay
                                 skitter along the wide minaret stairs
                                 to where midnight’s fire-dancers
                                 swallow each others fingers in discordant glee,
                                 and somewhere, silence grows to fill the universe…


Published in:
‘SNIFFIN’ FLOWERS no.1’ (UK – September 1977)
‘BIZARRE ANGEL no.2’ (UK – May 1980)
also in:
‘DEAF EYES’ collection
(Fiasco Publications – UK, April 1973)