My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer

THE SONG OF THE BIRD IN THE LOINS

Imagine Lucifer An angel without angelness A poem That has revised itself out of sound Imagine, rhyme, concordance Absent of all God spoke of, present everything A poem is. The law I say, the Law Is? What is Lucifer An emperor with no clothes No skin, no flesh, no heart An emperor! THE SONG OF THE BIRD IN THE LOINS A swallow whispers in my loins So I can neither lie or stand And I can never sleep again Unless I whisper you his song: “Deep in a well,” he whispers. “Deep As diamonds washed beneath the stone I wait and whisper endlessly Imprisoned in a well of flesh. “At night he sometimes sleeps and dreams. At night he sometimes does not hear my voice. How can I wound you with my well of sound If he can sleep and dream beneath its wounds? Spicer: My Vocabulary Did This to Me page 62 62 “I whisper to you through his lips. He is my cage, you are my source of song. I whisper to you through a well of stone. Listen at night and you will hear him sing: “‘A swallow whispers in my loins So I can neither lie or stand And I can never sleep again Unless I whisper you this song.’” BABEL 3 It wasn’t the tower at all It was our words he hated. Once our words rose Into God’s willing mouth Like bells sing into houses. When someone loved The word said love, On the 38th floor, On the 94th floor, On the 1224th floor. Words were different then. God didn’t Divide us into different languages He divided Words and men. Men and words—He called the words angels. We called the words angels. Things were different then. Spicer: My Vocabulary Did This to Me page 63 63 ...