Roses and Revolutions: The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall

Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects

poems on miscellaneous subjects This page intentionally left blank 127 Hail, Dionysos Hail, Dionysos, god of frenzy and release, of trance and visions, hail to the manifestations of your might, thanks for admitting me to your ritual. Inspirer of divine speech: da da da da da da da da da; releaser of subterranean energies: a man lies snoring on the sofa; giver of fierce grace: a girl staggers among chairs, reels against the wall; endower with new sensations and powers: a man vomits on the rug—an aromatic painting, and a girl, a lovely creature, wets her panties. Hail, Dionysos, god of frenzy and release, of trance and visions. I see them recede, handsome men, beautiful women, brains clever and bright, spirits gay and daring, see eyes turn glassy, tongues grow thick, limbs tremble and shake, caught in your divine power, carried away on the stream of your might, Dionysos. 128 Analysands Sipping whiskey and gin, they analyze their analysts and their treatment in jargon like the debris in a magpie’s gullet. Each feeling, each phrase, each dream is dissected with dialectic keener than a scalpel. Like lactating women unbrassiering and comparing their breasts or small boys measuring their penises, they incise themselves, draw out and display their entrails, tear out their throbbing dripping hearts and scrutinize each minute quivering, till finally, full of whiskey and gin, they drop asleep on sofa, chair or floor. 129 Winter Campus: Ann Arbor April took flesh in clear September air when one girl paused upon the colonnade, turned, and for a heartbeat hovered there while yellow elm leaves drifted past her hair. Here, now, the same soft youngness is conveyed as these bareheaded throngs stream to and fro with footfalls noiseless in the sudden snow, a hum like bees pulsating on and on while treble voices tremble in the air and rime with chiming of the carillon. [ 1950–51 ] 130 Shape of the Invisible At dawn Upon the snow The delicate imprint Left by the sleeping body of The wind. [ 1942 ] 131 Nocturne Light has laid down its chisel. Only a staring, mutilated moon crawls over the dim meadows of the mind where my love lies irrevocably lost, beyond the clasp of pity or desire. In recollection’s mists her face is blurred, and she has left no spoor except, perhaps, in caverns of a dream, or in the insinuations of a willow. [ 1963 ] 132 Augury for an Infant (For Venita Sherron) Venita, you have come to us. What will you be? Proud as Du Bois, humble as Booker T.? A poet with the humor of Dunbar, or with the fiery feelings of Antar? Classic as Pushkin, romantic as Dumas? There’s so much wealth to mine, so much to do. Will you be a Carver, Banneker, or Drew, or learn the lore of the Ethiopian queen? Sing sweet as Marian or Leontyne? Or be an artist, skilled, sophisticated as those by whom the African bronzes were created? In you, little babe, I see Infinite possibility. [ 1963 ] 133 Belle Isle Joy and delight, joy and delight, like bells Or bell-like flowers pealing in memory. When leaves were the color of sun, And the island floated toward winter, You exclaimed at the freighters surging past, And reached for words to express their masterful glide. You laughed at the insolent motorboats Hurling their foaming wake upon the shore, Delighted in a blue-sailed vessel, and in the flowerhouse You reveled in the bright-leaved plants, Grew ecstatic at a firmament of bell-like flowers, Reached on tiptoe to steal a blossom And pinched a stem to grow “by love” you said. You listened for the tinkle of the carousel And mixed your laughter with its melody, And food and drink and cigarets were part. I, watching, thought: This is how poets are. This is the inner principle of their art: Joy and delight, joy and delight, poems Conceived in joy, endowing the world and time With joy and delight, joy and delight, for ever. [ 1964 ] 134 Verse Forms Free verse is a club. If it batters long enough, It may crush a breastplate. A sonnet is an arrow. Pointed and slim, it pierces The slit...