diff options
Diffstat (limited to '26918.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 26918.txt | 1771 |
1 files changed, 1771 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/26918.txt b/26918.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..110adf0 --- /dev/null +++ b/26918.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1771 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spectra, by Arthur Ficke and Witter Bynner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Spectra + A Book of Poetic Experiments + +Author: Arthur Ficke + Witter Bynner + +Release Date: October 14, 2008 [EBook #26918] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECTRA *** + + + + +Produced by Ruth Hart + + + + +SPECTRA + +A BOOK OF POETIC EXPERIMENTS + +BY + +ANNE KNISH +AND +EMANUEL MORGAN + + + +NEW YORK +MITCHELL KENNERLEY +1916 + + + +COPYRIGHT 1916 BY +MITCHELL KENNERLEY + +PRINTED IN AMERICA + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE +To Remy de Gourmont (Emanuel Morgan) vii +Preface (Anne Knish) ix + +SPECTRA BY EMANUEL MORGAN +OPUS PAGE +1 Drums 53 +2 Hope 14 +6 If I Were Only Dafter 56 +7 A Bunch of Grapes 8 +9 Frogs' Legs on a Plate 57 +13 A Peacock-Feather 11 +14 I Had Put Out My Leaves 51 +15 Despair Comes 6 +16 The Guillotine 20 +17 Needles and Pins 46 +29 Knives 31 +31 Thank God that We Can Laugh 27 +40 Two Cocktails Round a Smile 35 +41 Spectres 2 +45 The Locust-Tree 49 +46 No Other Angle 40 +47 Giver of Bribes in the Brightness of Morning 37 +55 The Impossible 43 +62 Three Little Creatures 16 +63 Spears 23 +78 I Am Beset 63 +79 Only Lovers 66 +101 The Piano 61 +104 Madagascar 59 + +SPECTRA BY ANNE KNISH +OPUS PAGE +1 The Seconds Bob By 41 +40 I Have not Written--That You May Read 26 +50 The Piano Lives in a Dusk 1 +67 I Would Not in the Early Morning 10 +76 Years Are Nothing 4 +80 Oh, My Little House of Glass 52 +88 So We Came Back Again 36 +96 You Are the Delphic Oracle 33 +118 If Bathing Were a Virtue 7 +122 Upstairs There Lies a Sodden Thing 39 +126 His Eyes 12 +131 I Am Weary 18 +134 Listen, My Friend 21 +135 In a Tomb of Argolis 64 +150 Sounds 29 +151 Candle, Candle 15 +181 Skeptical Cat 62 +182 He's the Remnant of a Suit 60 +187 I Do Not Know Very Much 58 +191 The Black Bark of a Dog 48 +195 Her Soul Was Freckled 55 +200 If I Should Enter to his Chamber 45 + + + +TO REMY DE GOURMONT + + POET, a wreath!-- +No matter how we had combined our flowers, +You would have worn them--being ours. . . . +On you, on them, the showers-- + O roots beneath! + EMANUEL MORGAN. + + + +PREFACE + +THIS volume is the first compilation of the recent experiments in +Spectra. It is the aim of the Spectric group to push the possibilities +of poetic expression into a new region,--to attain a fresh brilliance +of impression by a method not so wholly different from the +methods of Futurist Painting. + +An explanation of the term "Spectric" will indicate something of the +nature of the technique which it describes. "Spectric" has, in this +connection, three separate but closely related meanings. In the first +place, it speaks, to the mind, of that process of diffraction by +which are disarticulated the several colored and other rays of which +light is composed. It indicates our feeling that the theme of a +poem is to be regarded as a prism, upon which the colorless white +light of infinite existence falls and is broken up into glowing, +beautiful, and intelligible hues. In its second sense, the term +Spectric relates to the reflex vibrations of physical sight, and +suggests the luminous appearance which is seen after exposure of +the eye to intense light, and, by analogy, the after-colors of +the poet's initial vision. In its third sense, Spectric connotes +the overtones, adumbrations, or spectres which for the poet haunt +all objects both of the seen and the unseen world,--those +shadowy projections, sometimes grotesque, which, hovering around the +real, give to the real its full ideal significance and its poetic +worth. These spectres are the manifold spell and true essence of +objects,--like the magic that would inevitably encircle a mirror from +the hand of Helen of Troy. + +Just as the colors of the rainbow recombine into a white light,--just +as the reflex of the eye's picture vividly haunts sleep,--just as +the ghosts which surround reality are the vital part of that +existence,--so may the Spectric vision, if successful, synthesize, +prolong, and at the same time multiply the emotional images of +the reader. The rays which the poet has dissociated into colorful +beauty should recombine in the reader's brain into a new intensity +of unified brilliance. The reflex of the poet's sight should sustain +the original perception with a haunting keenness. The insubstantiality +of the poet's spectres should touch with a tremulous vibrancy of +ultimate fact the reader's sense of the immediate theme. + +If the Spectrist wishes to describe a landscape, he will not +attempt a map, but will put down those winged emotions, those +fantastic analogies, which the real scene awakens in his own mind. +In practice this will be found to be the vividest of all modes of +communication, as the touch of hands quickens a mere exchange of names. + +It may be noted that to Spectra, to these reflected experiences of +life, as we perceive them, adheres often a tinge of humor. Occidental +art, in contrast to art in the Orient, has until lately been afraid +of the flash of humor in its serious works. But a growing acquaintance +with Chinese painting is surely liberating in our poets and painters +a happy sense of the disproportion of man to his assumed place in +the universe, a sense of the tortuous grotesque vanity of the +individual. By this weapon, man helps defend his intuition of the +Absolute and of his own obscure but real relation to it. + +The Spectric method is as yet in its infancy; and the poems that +follow are only experimental efforts toward the desired end. Among +them, the most obvious illustrations of the method are perhaps _Opus +41_ by Emanuel Morgan and _Opus 76_ by Anne Knish. + +Emanuel Morgan, with whom the Spectric theory originated, has +found the best expression of his genius in regular metrical forms +and rhyme. Anne Knish, on the other hand, has used only free +verse. We wish to make it clear that the Spectric manner does +hot necessitate the employment of either of these metrical systems +to the exclusion of the other. + +Although the members of our group would by no means attempt to +establish a claim as actual inventors of the Spectric method, +yet we can justifiably say that we have for the first time +used the method consciously and consistently, and formulated +its possibilities by means of elaborate experiment. Among +recent poets in English, we have noted few who can be regarded +in a sure sense as Spectrists. + ANNE KNISH. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 50_ + +THE piano lives in a dusk +Where rich amber lights +Quiver obscurely. + + It exists only at twilight; +And somewhere afar +In the depths of a tropic forest +The sun is now setting, and the phoenix looks +Mysteriously toward the gold. + + I think I must have been born in such a forest, +Or in the tangle of a Chinese screen. + + There is indigo in this music; +This dusk is filled with amber lights; +Through the tangled evening of heavy flower-scents +Come footfalls +That surely I can almost remember. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 41_ + +SPECTRES came dancing up the wind, + Trailing down the long grass, +Shooting high, undisciplined, + To join the sun and see you pass . . . + The colors of the pointed glass. + +Under a willow-maze you went + Unsaddened . . . But a violet beam +Fell on the white face, backward bent, + Of a body in a stream. + +Into the sun you came again, + With sun-red light your feet were shod . . . +And round you stood a ring of feathered men + With naked arms acknowledging a god. + +Indigo-birds and squirrels on a tree + And orioles flashed in and out . . . +The yellow outline of Eurydice + Waited for Orpheus in a black redoubt + +With a beaded fern you waved away a gnat . . . + And maidens, hung with vivid beads of green, +One of them bearing in her arms an orange cat, + Held palms about a queen. + +Then you were lost to sight + And locking trees became the clouds of you, +Till you emerged, the moon upon your shoulder, and the night + Bloomed blue. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 76_ + +YEARS are nothing; +Days alone count; +These, and the nights. +I have seen the grey stars marching, +And the green bubbles in wine, +And there are Gothic vaults of sleep. + + My cathedral +Has one great spire +Tawny in the sunlight. +Gargoyles haunt its nave; +High up amid its dark-arches +Forgotten songs live shadowy. +Gold and sardonyx +Deck its altars. +Its mighty roof +Is copper rivering with the rain. + + Tomorrow lightning swords will come +And thunder of cannon. +They will unrivet this roof +Of mighty copper. +Before the eyes of my gargoyles, +In the sound of my forgotten songs, +They will take it. +And as the rain sluices down +I shall have to follow my roof into the war. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 15_ + +DESPAIR comes when all comedy + Is tame +And there is left no tragedy + In any name, +When die round and wounded breathing + Of love upon the breast +Is not so glad a sheathing + As an old brown vest. + +Asparagus is feathery and tall, +And the hose lies rotting by the garden-wall. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 118_ + +IF bathing were a virtue, not a lust, +I would be dirtiest. + + To some, housecleaning is a holy rite. +For myself, houses would be empty +But for the golden motes dancing in sunbeams. + + Tax-assessors frequently overlook valuables. +Today they noted my jade. +But my memory of you escaped them. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 7_ + +BEYOND her lips in the dark are a man's feet + Composed and dead . . . +In the light between her lips is a moving tongue-rip sweet, + Red. + +Her arms are his white robes, + They cover a king, +His ornaments her crescent lobes + And two moons on a string. + +Sheba, Sheba, Proserpina, Salome, + See, I am come!--king, god, saint!-- +With the stone of a volcano O show that you know me, + Pound till the true blood pricks through the paint! + +Twitch of the dead man's feet if he remembers + A bunch of grapes and a ripped-open gown.-- +And the live man's eyes are night after embers, + Two black spots on a white-faced down . . . + +And in the dawn, lava . . . rolling down . . . +Down-rolling lava on an up-pointing town. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 67_ + +I WOULD not in the early morning +Start my mind on its inevitable journey +Toward the East. +There are white domes somewhere +Under that blue enameled sky, white domes, white domes; +Therefore even the cream +Is safest yellow. +Cream is better than lemon +In tea at breakfast +I think of tigers as eating lemons. +Thank God this tea comes from the green grocer, +Not from Ceylon. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 13_ + +O PEACOCK-FEATHER + Drawn through a death-dim hole, +With colors blurred together, + Persian pattern of a soul-- + +Is it enough to have belonged + To the exaltation of a bird +Round whom they thronged + Each time her high tail stirred? + +. . . I loved a woman whose two eyes, + One blue, one gray, + Would block +Like cliffs my foothold in the skies . . . + She is dead, they say-- + Dead as a peacock. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 126_ + +HIS eyes +Are the resurrection. +Once when beneath the moonrise +They looked into mine, +Grey mists held mastery between us, +And I knew that his soul +Had gone down into death. +But tonight a golden star-dust +Is pouring through space, +And the mist is burned away by it. +Tonight his soul awakens +Out of its splendid cerements, +And through his eyes the miracle +Arises to the earth. + + I have prayed long beside the tomb +And touched the grave-cloths +With living fingers. +I have lain my breasts +Against the granite +Of the sarcophagus +Where he was. +Prayers for the dead I offered up +And hecatombs. + + Today there was a wonder in the sunrise. +I knew that there were glories in the sky +And new branches of willow on the earth. +And my soul trembled with prophecy. + + I prophesied +The resurrection. +Now it has come. +And I lie shaken +Before its tumult. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 2_ + +HOPE +Is the antelope +Over the hills; +Fear +Is the wounded deer +Bleeding in rills; +Care +Is the heavy bear +Tearing at meat; +Fun +Is the mastodon +Vanished complete . . . + +And I am the stag with the golden horn +Waiting till my day is born. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 151_ + +CANDLE, candle, + Flicker and flow-- +I knew you once-- + But it was not long ago, + it was + +Last night. +And you spoiled my otherwise bright + evening. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 62_ + +THREE little creatures gloomed across the floor + And stood profound in front of me, +And one was Faith, and one was Hope, + And one was Charity. + +Faith looked for what it could not find, + Hope looked for what was lost, +(Love looked and looked but Love was blind), + Charity's eyes were crossed. + +Then with a leap a single shape, + With beauty on its chin, +Brandished a little screaming ape . . . + And each one, like a pin, + +Fell to a pattern on the rug + As flat as they could be-- +And died there comfortable and snug, + Faith, Hope and Charity. + +That shape, it was my shining soul + Bludgeoning every sham . . . +O little ape, be glad that I + Can be the thing I am! + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 131_ + +I AM weary of salmon dawns +And of cinnamon sunsets; +Silver-grey and iron-grey +Of winter dusk and morn +Torture me; and in the amethystine shadows +Of snow, and in the mauve of curving clouds +Some poison has dwelling. + + Ivory on a fan of Venice, +Black-pearl of a bowl of Japan, +Prismatic lustres of Phoenician glass, +Fawn-tinged embroideries from looms of Bagdad, +The green of ancient bronze, cinereous tinge +Of iron gods,-- +These, and the saffron of old cerements, +Violet wine, +Zebra-striped onyx, +Are to me like the narrow walls of home +To the land-locked sailor. + + I must have fire-brands! +I must have leaves! +I must have sea-deeps! + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 16_ + +DEATH on a cross was not the blade + In Mary's heart . . . +For the mother of man and the son of the maid + Had walked one night apart, +When his beard was not yet grown--and, afraid, + She had seen his young words dart. + +Between a mother and a son, + The guillotine . . . +It falls, it falls, and one by one, + Unseeing and unseen, +They face the great sharp shining ton + That time has eaten green. + +Between the shoulder and the head + The guillotine must play +And cleave with clash unmerited + The generating day . . . +Till the separated parts, not dead, + Rise and walk away. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 134_ + +LISTEN, my friend, +That you may understand me.-- + + In my earliest youth +I dreamed in hues volcanic. +I saw each day open +Like a curtain of flame. +Black slaves attended +My waking moments; +Three ebony slaves +Washed sleep from my white body. +Three ebony slaves +Around my ivory smoothness +Folded heavy robes +Of crimson and white. +And as I issued forth +Into the blue vault of the daylight +A grey ape pranced before me +And a leopard crept behind. + + This was the state +Of my young heritage. +Scarlet as the voice of trumpets +Was the pageant of my days. +Can I accept now +The twilight? +And soon the dark, where all colors +Die? + + Before I die, I will hold one last revel! +I will have golden cups and poppy curtains!-- +And yet-- + + No! . . . In a black hall +The black table shall spread far down before me +And all the feasters garbed in black. +Then, at the feast's height, I arising +Shall with a gesture like the midnight +Throw back my midnight robe and suddenly stand +Naked, the sole white flame of the world. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 63_ + +THE seven deathly spears of memory +Setting behind a god, a golden glorious +Halo of land and sea +Even for you and me, + Even for us . . . + + The spear of Egypt, +Orange, +Through the sleeping lid, +With all the power of the bulk of a pyramid. + + The spear of Chile, +Yellow, +Through the thrilling cheek, +With all the push of an upturned Andean peak. + + The spear of Thibet, +Violet, +Through the eager hand, +The thrust of the iron of a silent land. + + The spear of the Ice-Poles, +Green, +Through the warm-breathing breast, +The glacial east and the glacial west + + The spear of Norway, +Blue, +Through the curved arm-pit, +The cheerless sun majestic in a jagged slit. + + The spear of India, +Indigo, +Through the holy side, +A heaven-touching temple-roof down a mountain-slide. + + The spear of Europe, +Red, +In the mouth's breath, +The million-splintering scream of death . . . + + Even to us, +The seven-spearing sun, +The sword of separation before our love is done; + Even for us, +A simian shape +Throwing seven souls on the sea-wet cape; + Even for us +Who smile mouth to mouth, +The full tornado from the seven-forked south; + Even to us +Who clasp with our knees, +The scattering upheaval of the seven cold seas! + + And this is as near as lovers ever come, +Their words are dumb; +This is as near as they have ever kissed, +Their lips are ocean-mist. + + Yet what avail the seven +Spears of memory +Against the obstinate archery +Of light, the spears of heaven? + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 40_ + +I HAVE not written, reader, +That you may read. . . . +They sit in rows in the bare school-room +Reading. +Throwing rocks at windows is better, +And oh the tortoise-shell cat with the can tied on! +I would rather be a can-tier +Than a writer for readers. + + I have written, reader, +For abstruse reasons. +Gold in the mine . . . +Black water seeping into tunnels . . . +A plank breaks, and the roof falls . . . +Three men suffocated. +The wife of one now works in a laundry; +The wife of another has married a fat man; +I forget about the third. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 31_ + +THE night is growing deep with snow + O put your hand in mine, +While the mirthful secrets that we know + Bloom in the fire-shine-- +Flakes falling with an undertow + Of delicate design. + +Hushed are the courts where ladies went + Unquestioning to quaff +Goblets of liquid firmament-- + Thank God that we can laugh! + +Hushed are the plains where Asia poured + The blood of peacock kings-- +But we can echo, thank the Lord, + What the China teapot sings: + + Nothing bereaves + The eternal tune + Of little crisp leaves + Green in the moon. + +The night is deeper still with snow . . . + O let us never stir +From the mirthful secrets that we know + Of old diameter! +Eve laughed at Adam long ago, + And Adam laughed at her. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 150_ + +SOUNDS, pure sounds-- +Nothing-- +Vibrancies of the air-- +And yet-- + + This summer night +There are crickets shrilling +Beyond the deep bassoon of frogs. +They cease for a moment +As the rattling clangor +Of the trolley +Bumps by. +I hear footsteps +Hollow on the pavement +Now deserted +And blank of sound. +They die. +The crickets now are sleeping; +Even the leaves +Grow still. + + And slowly +Out of the blankness, out of the silence +Emerges on soundless wings! +The long sweet-sloping +Rise and fall of far viol notes,-- +The mad Nirvana, +The faint and spectral +Dream-music +Of my heart's desire. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 29_ + +KNIVES for feet, and wheels for a chin, +And the long smooth iron bore for a neck, +And bullets for hands. . . . And the root runs in, +The root of blood no stone can check, +From the breasts of the grinding crash of sin, +From engines hugging in a wreck. + +A thousand round-red mouths of pain +Blaring black, +A twisting comrade on his back +In a round-red stain, +Clotted stalks of red sumac, +Discs of the sun on a bayonet-stack . . . + +Blood, flame, a cataract +Thrown upward from a desert place: +Flame and blood, the one blind fact, +Contained, or spouting from the face, +Or coiling out of bellies, packed +In a stinking spent embrace . . . + +Country, a babble of black spume . . . +Faith, an eyeball in the sand . . . +Mother, a nail through a broken hand-- +A kissing fume-- +And out of her breast the bloody bubbling milk-red breath +Of death. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 96_ + +YOU are the Delphic Oracle +Of the Under-World. + + As we sit talking, +All of us together, +You flash forth sudden utterance +Of buried things +That writhe in obscure life +Within our minds' last darkness. +That which we think and say not +You say and think not. +In us these thoughts +Like worms stir vilely. +But from you they depart as sudden butterflies +Crimson and green against the pure sky. + + Many are the revelers; +Few are the thyrsus-bearers; +And sole is Dionysus. + + This I inscribe to you, +Singer, +In memory of the crags of Delphi +And the Thessalian vales beyond. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 40_ + +TWO cocktails round a smile, + A grapefruit after grace, +Flowers in an aisle + . . . Were your face. + +A strap in a street-car, + A sea-fan on the sand, +A beer on a bar + . . . Were your hand + +The pillar of a porch, + The tapering of an egg, +The pine of a torch + . . . Were your leg.-- + +Sun on the Hellespont, + White swimmers in the bowl +Of the baptismal font + Are your soul. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 88_ + +SO we came back again +After some years-- +Just revisiting +The scenes of our sin. +Nothing is there but the garden; +And we had expected +That we would be there. + + I heard a wind blowing +Down the sky. +It came with heavy auguries +And passed. +There was a soothsayer once in Rome +Who on a white altar +Inspected the purple entrails of victims. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 47_ + +GIVER of bribes in the brightness of morning, + Cities have wavered and rocked and gone down . . . +But the lamps of the altars hang round you, adorning + The niche of your neck and the drift of your gown. + +O bribe-giver, marked with purple metal-- + Cut in your naked contentment there shows +On the curve of your breast one carven petal + From heaven's impenetrable rose! + +You open the window to myriad windows, + The high triangular door of the world . . . +Till the walls and the roofs and the curious keystone, + The carven rose with its petals uncurled, + +Are swayed in the swathe of the uppermost ether, + Where stars are the columns upholding a dome, +And the edifice rolls on a corner of ocean, + Lifts on a wave, poises on foam . . . + +We stand on the rose, we are images golden, + We move interchanging, attaining one crest: +One chin and one mouth and one nose and one forehead, + One mouth and one chin and one neck and one breast . . . + +I pull you apart from me, struggle to bind you, + I free you, I rend you in seven great rays . . . +And we cling to them all . . . but we lose them, and slowly-- + We slip with the rainbow down the blue bays. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 122_ + +UPSTAIRS there lies a sodden thing +Sleeping. +Soon it will come down +And drink coffee. +I shall have to smile at it across the table. +How can I? +For I know that at this moment +It sleeps without a sign of life; it is as good as dead. +I will not consort with reformed corpses, +I the life-lover, I the abundant. +I have known living only; +I will not acknowledge kinship with death. +White graves or black, linen or porphyry, +Are all one to me. +And yet, on the Lybian plains +Where dust is blown, +A king once +Built of baked clay and bulls of bronze +A tomb that makes me waver. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 46_ + +I ONLY know that you are given me + For my delight. +No other angle finishes my soul + But you, you white. + +I know that I am given you, + Black whirl to white, +To lift the seven colors up . . . + Focus of light! + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 1_ + +REITERATION! . . . + +The seconds bob by, +So many, so many, +Each ugly in its own way +As raw meats are all ugly. +Why do we feed on the dead? +Or would at least it were with cries and lust +Of slaying our human food +Beneath a cannibal sun! +But these old corpses of alien creatures! . . . +I loathe them! +And too many heads go by the window, +All alien-- +Filers of saws, doubtless, +Or lechers +Or Sabbath-keepers. +Morality comes from God. +He was busy. +He forgot to make beauty. +Why does he not call back into their hen-house +This ugly straggling flock of seconds +That trail by +With pin-feathers showing? + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 55_ + +WHY ask it of me?--the impossible!-- + Shall I pick up the lightning in my hand? +Have I not given homages too well + For words to understand?-- + +Words take you from me, bring you back again, + Dance in our presence, cover your proud face +With the incredible counterpane, + Break our embrace . . . + +No, not to you + Your wish, +But to some kangaroo + Or cuttle-fish + +Or octopus or eagle or tarantula + Or elephant or dove +Or some peninsula + Let me speak love-- + +Or call some battle or some temple-bell + Or many-curving pine +Or some cool truth-containing well + Or thin cathedral--mine! + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 200_ + +IF I should enter to his chamber +And suddenly touch him, +Would he fade to a thin mist, +Or glow into a fire-ball, +Or burst like a punctured light-globe? +It is impossible that he would merely yawn and rub +And say--"What is it?" + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 17_ + +MAN-THUNDER, woman-lightning, + Rumble, gleam; +Refusal, + Scream. + +Needles and pins of pain + All pointed the same way; +Parellel lines of pain + When the lips are gray + And know not what they say: +Rain, +Rain. + +But after the whirl of fright + And great shouts and flashes, + The pounding clashes + And deep slashes, + After the scattered ashes + +Of the night, +Heaven's height + Abashes + With a gleam through unknown lashes +Of delicious points of light. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 191_ + +THE black bark of a dog +Made patterns against the night. +And little leaves flute-noted across the moon. + + I seemed to feel your soft looks +Steal across that quiet evening room +Where once our souls spoke, long ago. + + For that was of a vastness; +And this night is of a vastness . . . + + There was a dog-bark then-- +It was the sound +Of my rebellious and incredulous heart +Its patterns twined about the stars +And drew them down +And devoured them. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 45_ + +AN angel, bringing incense, prays + Forever in that tree . . . +I go blind still when the locust sways + Those honey-domes for me. + +All the fragrances of dew, O angel, are there, +The myrrhic rapture of young hair, + The lips of lust; + And all the stenches of dust, +Even the palm and the fingers of a hand burnt bare + With a curling sweet-smelling crust, +And the bitter staleness of old hair, + Powder on a withering bust . . . + +The moon came through the window to our bed. + And the shadows of the locust-tree + On your white sweet body made of me, + Of my lips, a drunken bee. . . . +O tree-like Spring, O blossoming days, +I, who some day shall be dead, + Shall have ever a lover to sway with me. +For when my face decays + And the earth moulds in my nostrils, shall there not be + The breath therein of a locust-tree, + The seed, the shoot of a locust-tree, + The honey-domes of a locust-tree, + Till lovers go blind and sway with me?-- + +O tree-like Spring, O blossomy days, +To sway as long as the locust sways! + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 14_ + +BESIDE the brink of dream + I had put out my willow-roots and leaves +As by a stream + Too narrow for the invading greaves +Of Rome in her trireme . . . + Then you came--like a scream +Of beeves. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 80_ + +OH my little house of glass! +How carefully +I have planted shrubbery +To plume before your transparency. +Light is too amorous of you, +Transfusing through and through +Your panes with an effulgence never new. +Sometimes +I am terribly tempted +To throw the stones myself. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 1_ + +THEY enter with long trailing of shadowy cloth, + And each with one hand praying in the air, +And the softness of their garments is the grayness of a moth-- + The lost and broken night-moth of despair. + +And they keep a wounded distance + With following bare feet, +A distance Isadoran-- + And the dark moons beat +Their drums. + +More desolate than they are Isadora stands, + The blaze of the sun on her grief; +The stars of a willow are in both her hands, + And her heart is the shape of a leaf. + +And they come to her for comfort + And her black-thrown hair +Is a harp of consolation +Singing anthems in the air. + +With the dark she wrestles, daring alone, + Though their young arms would aid; +Her body wreathes and brightens, never thrown, + Unvanquished, unafraid . . . + +Till light comes leaping + On little children's feet, +Comes leaping Isadoran-- + And the white stars beat +Their drums. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 195_ + +HER soul was freckled +Like the bald head +Of a jaundiced Jewish banker. +Her fair and featurous face +Writhed like +An albino boa-constrictor. +She thought she resembled the Mona Lisa. +This demonstrates the futility of thinking. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 6_ + +IF I were only dafter + I might be making hymns +To the liquor of your laughter + And the lacquer of your limbs. + +But you turn across the table + A telescope of eyes. +And it lights a Russian sable + Running circles in the skies. . . . + +Till I go running after, + Obeying all your whims-- +For the liquor of your laughter + And the lacquer of your limbs. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 9_ + +WHEN frogs' legs on a plate are brought to me + As though I were divinity in France, +I feel as God would feel were He to see + Imperial Russians dance. + +These people's thoughts and gestures and concerns + Move like a Russian ballet made of eggs; +A bright-smirched canvas heaven heaves and burns + Above their arms and legs. + +Society hops this way and that, well-taught; + But while I watch, in cloudy state, +I feel as God would feel if he were brought + Frogs' legs on a plate. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 187_ + +I DO not know very much, +But I know this-- +That the storms of contempt that sweep over us, +Ready to blast any edifice before then +Rise from the fathomless maelstrom +Of contempt for ourselves. +If there be a god, +May he preserve me +From striking with these lightnings +Those whom I love. + + Saying which, +Zarathustra strolled on +Down Fifth Avenue. + + The last three lines +Are symptomatic. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 104_ + +HOW terrible to entertain a lunatic! +To keep his earnestness from coming close! + +A Madagascar land-crab once +Lifted blue claws at me +And rattled long black eyes +That would have got me +Had I not been gay. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 182_ + +"HE'S the remnant of a suit that has been drowned; +That's what decided me," said Clarice. +"And so I married him, +I really wanted a merman; +And this slimy quality in him +Won me. +No one forbade the banns. +Ergo--will you love me?" + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 101_ + +HE not only plays +One note +But holds another note +Away from it-- +As a lover +Lifts +A waft of hair +From loved eyes. + +The piano shivers, +When he touches it, +And the leg shines. + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 181_ + +SKEPTICAL cat, +Calm your eyes, and come to me. +For long ago, in some palmed forest, +I too felt claws curling +Within my fingers . . . +Moons wax and wane; +My eyes, too, once narrowed and widened +Why do you shrink back? +Come to me: let me pat you-- +Come, vast-eyed one . . . +Or I will spring upon you +And with steel-hook fingers +Tear you limb from limb. . . . + +There were twins in my cradle. . . . + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 78_ + +I AM beset by liking so many people. +What can I do but hide my face away?-- +Lest, looking up in love, I see no eyes or lids +In the gleaming whirl of day, +Lest, reaching for the fingers of love, +I know not which are they, +Lest the dear-lipped multitude, +Kissing me, choke me dead!-- + +O green eyes in the breakers, +White heave unquieted, +What can I do but dive again, again--again-- +To hide my head! + + + +ANNE KNISH +_Opus 135_ + +IN a tomb of Argolis, +Under an arch of great stones, +Where my eyes were sightless, groping, +I touched this figment of clay. + + Forgotten vase of immemorial Greece, +Colorless form! +I have entered to the blind dark +Of the tomb where you have slept forever +And with the dreams of my importunate hands +I touch you in the profound darkness. + + You are cold and estranged; +Yet the ends of my fingers cling to your porous surface. +You are thin and very tall; +My palm can cover your mouth. +Your lip curves but a little; +Around your throat +My two hands meet, +And then part as I follow the swelling +Rhythm that downward widens, +And I pass around and under, +And the returning line +Ebbs home. + +Beneath your feet I touch cold marble; +My hand returns +To sleep upon your breast +Dreaming it warm. + + + +EMANUEL MORGAN +_Opus 79_ + +ONLY the wise can see me in the mist, + For only lovers know that I am here +After his piping, shall the organist + Be portly and appear? + +Pew after pew, + Wave after wave . . . +Shall the digger dig and then undo + His own dear grave? + +Hear me in the playing + Of a big brass band . . . +See me, straying + With children hand in hand . . . + +Smell me, a dead fish . . . + Taste me, a rotten tree. . . . +Someday touch me, all you wish, + In the wide sea. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Spectra, by Arthur Ficke and Witter Bynner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECTRA *** + +***** This file should be named 26918.txt or 26918.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/1/26918/ + +Produced by Ruth Hart + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |