THE
KING IN A COUNTRY
OF
RAIN
____________________________________
Will
James
Contents
"There
is another heaven & earth beyond the world of men"
Li
Po
With
Our Eyes Closed
Darkness
descends without a sound on the wings of an invisible horse.
No
one knows his name, this stranger in love with his own shadow.
We
are walking backwards now with our eyes closed.
We
have nowhere else to go.
The
TV
They
left the TV on for years. No one ever
seemed
to watch it.
Often,
I could see it through the open drapes
illuminating
the room at night.
Eventually
the TV caught fire.
Flames
shot out from the walls
and
the roof.
Someone
called the police.
Neighbors gathered in the street.
They
opened their mouths in wonder
but
no one spoke. They watched it all
like
some kind of ancient sacrifice
as
they witnessed clouds of smoke
floating
up into the heavens,
sending signals to those
no longer left on the ground.
sending signals to those
no longer left on the ground.
The
Hereafter
How
many clowns would fit into a toy car in the hereafter?
Imagine
them piling in. Imagine the laughter.
We
search for poltergeists in a darkened room.
Will
there be space enough for them to bloom?
We wake in a world of make believe, as we hover between
what
is seen and unseen.
We
scan the brain
and enter into that mysterious terrain.
and enter into that mysterious terrain.
Human consciousness is a mystical thing,
seemingly held together with two tin cans and one lone string.
We
look out at the heavens from a darkened room.
Will
there be space enough for us to bloom?
How
many clowns would fit into a toy car in the hereafter?
Imagine them piling in. Imagine the laughter.
Imagine them piling in. Imagine the laughter.
The
King in a Country of Rain
When
the rains came, who would have guessed that he kept a secret?
That he knew his kingdom would fall, castles and all.
He was no prophet. He was just a king lost in dreams
That he knew his kingdom would fall, castles and all.
He was no prophet. He was just a king lost in dreams
that
no one could not quite recall.
When the rains came, who would have guessed that he kept a secret?
That he knew his kingdom would fall, castles and all.
Anna
Nicole Smith in TV Heaven
The
flashbulbs are so much brighter here.
After all, this is the land of laugh tracks,
big screen TVs and Cadillacs,
where games shows are broadcast twenty-four hours
a day and everyone is a winner. The thousand pound man
and the five hundred pound mom, can Doctor Phil save them?
Her bodyguard said her eyes were fixed and dilated.
The coroner ruled that a combination of pills
and chloral hydrate killed her.
Rumor has it that Andy Warhol
has already commissioned her portrait.
But Einstein wants nothing to do with it.
We open ourselves up to darkness but not to love.
Our heads are getting bigger everyday
while our legs are shrinking from disuse.
Did OJ commit armed robbery in Las Vegas?
Do flying saucers really exist? Can America be saved?
Stay tuned.
After all, this is the land of laugh tracks,
big screen TVs and Cadillacs,
where games shows are broadcast twenty-four hours
a day and everyone is a winner. The thousand pound man
and the five hundred pound mom, can Doctor Phil save them?
Her bodyguard said her eyes were fixed and dilated.
The coroner ruled that a combination of pills
and chloral hydrate killed her.
Rumor has it that Andy Warhol
has already commissioned her portrait.
But Einstein wants nothing to do with it.
We open ourselves up to darkness but not to love.
Our heads are getting bigger everyday
while our legs are shrinking from disuse.
Did OJ commit armed robbery in Las Vegas?
Do flying saucers really exist? Can America be saved?
Stay tuned.
A
Lonesome Dwarf in a House of Whores
He
lived in a mythic kingdom.
His
house stood in the shadow of a mythic mountain.
He
was a small man but one of great vision.
In
his dreams, he saw drones in the sky
and robots on horseback.
and robots on horseback.
He
saw men fighting wars by remote control.
He saw a hooded figure holding a sword.
He
took this as a sign;
he took this as a warning.
he took this as a warning.
He
imagined the end of the world
as
he lay beneath the shade of a blue tree.
He
imagined it all broadcast on TV.
Confession
of a TV Addict
After
we saw Lee Harvey Oswald shot on live TV,
there
was no turning back.
Our old world had faded. Our old world had gone black.
Our old world had faded. Our old world had gone black.
Blue
and pink lights flash across the screen.
Reporters
pontificate at the scene.
The
TV drones on,
we
watch as if in a hypnotic trance.
(We
do the zombie shuffle and dance.)
Our
memories have been digitized, our brains blown away.
What
story are we buying today?
The Boston Marathon bomber
is on the loose.
Another
eighty five dead in Syria. There will be no truce.
There
are no umpires dressed in black.
There
is no turning back.
Blue
and pink lights flash across the screen.
Reporters
pontificate at the scene.
The
Sound of War
Lightning
flashes in the clouds.
I
hear the boom and echo
of detonations in the distance.
of detonations in the distance.
I
hear the sound of war.
Bashar
al-Assad uses white phosphorus
on
women and children.
It
blisters and burns.
Fire devours their lungs.
Fire devours their lungs.
Their
footprints are soon
effaced in the dust.
effaced in the dust.
I
hear the roar of the mob, democracy in the raw.
Intelligence
is flattened, nuance is lost.
A
diplomat in denial doesn't point with a finger,
he
points with a gun.
Russia votes down a no-fly zone.
The killing goes on.
Russia votes down a no-fly zone.
The killing goes on.
Lightning
flashes in the clouds.
I
hear the boom and echo
of detonations in the distance.
of detonations in the distance.
I
hear the sound of war.
Terror
Blooms in the Ghettos of Palestine
I
hear skeletons calling out
from
the other side of a darkened room.
I
will not sleep tonight.
There
is another kind of war,
the
war inside a man, where all wars begin.
Terror
blooms in the ghettos of Palestine.
Children
sleep with dust in their beds.
Their
cries like the seeds of fish
are
taken up into the clouds.
Rockets
flare out of the Gaza strip.
The
law has hooks for hands, it is not delicate,
it
does not have a surgeon's touch.
It
cuts and rips into the bone.
The
dead fly over Israeli checkpoints,
out
of the occupied territories.
The
candles have been snuffed out
but
the sorrow remains.
Children
sleep with dust in their beds.
Their
cries like the seeds of fish
are
taken up into the clouds.
Aurora
Is
that the humming of a god or a fallen angel that he hears?
There is so much white noise that it is deafening.
It comes in waves.
There is so much white noise that it is deafening.
It comes in waves.
As
he sits in the courtroom,
his
hair dyed red and orange, his mind wanders.
He
is not dreaming. He is wide awake.
He sees things no one else sees.
He heard sirens
He sees things no one else sees.
He heard sirens
wailing
months before the killing.
He saw pools of blood at his feet.
He saw birds trapped in a cave with no way out.
(Schizophrenia is a diagnosis but not an explanation.)
He saw pools of blood at his feet.
He saw birds trapped in a cave with no way out.
(Schizophrenia is a diagnosis but not an explanation.)
A
woman holds a white rose and prays for the dead,
others join her,
their heads bowed in sorrow.
A newborn baby is placed on his father's belly.
He does not know his child is there.
He is in a coma.
There is a bandage over his eye where the bullet
entered his brain.
A ventilator helps him breathe.
others join her,
their heads bowed in sorrow.
A newborn baby is placed on his father's belly.
He does not know his child is there.
He is in a coma.
There is a bandage over his eye where the bullet
entered his brain.
A ventilator helps him breathe.
He
does not know that twelve died
in the back of theater nine.
He does not know how the movie ended.
in the back of theater nine.
He does not know how the movie ended.
Is
that the humming of a god or a fallen angel that we hear?
There is so much white noise that it is deafening.
It comes in waves.
Our minds wander. We are not dreaming.
We are wide awake.
We see things that no one should ever see.
There is so much white noise that it is deafening.
It comes in waves.
Our minds wander. We are not dreaming.
We are wide awake.
We see things that no one should ever see.
The
Woman in Dark Clothes
(for
Edith Stein)
She
adored Husserl, the depths of his thought.
But
philosophy was not enough for her.
She
became a student of love.
We
breathe in the ashes of those burned
in
the ovens of Auschwitz.
Flowers
bloom out of the dust.
She
walks with us in the darkness.
She
is familiar with it.
She
knows the way out.
They
were not aliens from another planet.
They
put their human faces on just like us
before
they dropped Zyklon B in a hole
in
the roof and waited for the bodies to fall.
That
they shared in our common humanity
somehow
made monsters of us all.
But
why should we feel responsible
for
their crimes,
when
we barely recognize our own?
But
the stain remains just the same.
It
will take all of human history to recover
from
that loss.
We
breathe in the ashes of those burned
in
the ovens of Auschwitz.
Flowers
bloom out of the dust.
She
walks with us in the darkness.
She
is familiar with it.
She
knows the way out.
That
Invisible Country
This
is not the end of the old world,
disfigured
and gray and lost in the clouds.
Rather
this is something entirely different.
This
is not like the world at all with its scorecard
of
wins and losses,
its
long list of words and wars.
So
come and float with me and breathe this cool air.
There
is no need to hurry.
There
is no one waiting for us anymore.
A
Girl Called Heaven
She
spoke to me from out of the darkness,
a prompter whispering from off stage.
a prompter whispering from off stage.
She
cued me to my longing.
I confessed I was trapped in a kind of cage.
She said her name was Heaven.
There was magic in what she said.
I confessed I was trapped in a kind of cage.
She said her name was Heaven.
There was magic in what she said.
She
spoke to me from out of the darkness
as I walked beneath the shadows of the dead.
as I walked beneath the shadows of the dead.
The
Eye of Winter
The
eye of winter dilates and then contracts.
The
fog descends.
Ghosts
climb up the mountain.
It
is dusk now and the world has turned a pale blue.
I
can see my breath in the cold air.
I
fumble with a key that does not turn.
It
is for another door in another life.
I'm
locked out; there's nothing left to do.
I
will not find myself at home tonight.
