Beatnik Poem for Susan
Screamer of the 7,000 names of the Dawn!
Blood-born poetess, dripping still with the shadowy ichors of your mother Night!
Your borning wail caused the stars to stop in their spheres,
Your every breath causes a titillation in the spine of the world,
Your beating heart keeps volcanoes burning in their beds,
Your lightning thought causes cities to flicker into life!
I name you Soul Woman,
Queen of the Dawn,
Dreamer of Dreams,
Storer of Words,
The Quick-Minded,
Labyrinthine,
Ever-Burning,
Incandescent
Daughter of Athena.
I name you flowering Black-Eyed Susan!
I say you are the bearer of a hundred happy dreams
And the thief of a thousand good nights' sleep.
Black-hearted Queen of the Day, I call you!
I have seen you in the mornings when you spin your webs of fate!
I have seen you in the dusk when you draw them close together!
I have seen the teeming flies from a thousand filthy sewers
Caught in nets strong as iron to feed your burning light!
I have seen your eight eyes as they flicker into life,
I have your eight legs dancing all across your brightening net!
I have seen you in the mornings when you spin your webs of fate!
I have seen the dark-spun tunnels where your hidden secrets lie!
Where is the pulse that drives you still,
Down dark city streets lit by windows like stars
And policed by metal demons of pith
Fueled by the wastes of aeons long past.
Now crown yourself with their exhaust!
Your blood, far blacker than their oil,
Combusts in your veins, igniting your brow with liquid flame
And pouring your light on the city!
Dreamer of Dreams,
Storer of Words,
Never despair while still that heart beats in your chest!