AS I LAY DYING II

AS I LAY DYING II

“In the very essence
of poetry there is
something indecent”
—Czeslaw Milosz,
Ars Poetica

Addie Bundren

”She’s gone,” Cash says.
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

”jewel, I say to him—
overhead the day drives gray
the rain coming down.”

“hiding the sun with—
a flight of gray spears above
yellow mud below.”

“my coffin slides off—
tilting into the river
the wagon drowns too.”

“heavy, water-soaked—
my coffin gleams dull yellow
both mules drown deep.”

“the shattered spokes flee—
the flooded waters weep tears
I am dissolving.”

“turning green with rot—
neither of earth or blue sky
help me, jewel, I say.”

Addie Bundren

“Dewy Dell
does not move.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“listen to me now—
dewy dell my dear daughter
I speak from darkness.”

“you’ll stop fanning now—
going to where peabody
is waiting for you.”

“standing in twilight—
feeling your eyes & turning
to you telling you.”

“don’t let it grieve you—
she was old & very sick
suffering badly.”

“you better go now—
and fix some dinner for us
don’t have to be much.”

“we’ll need to eat tho—
vardaman’s getting big now
all of them need you.”

“you could do so much—
for her if you only knew
now she’d tell you so.”

“I am I, now then—
and you are you dear daughter
nobody else knows.”

Darl

“I could lie with my
shirt-tail up, feeling
myself without touching
myself, wondering if
he in the darkness
was doing it too”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“I make love to jewel—
out there in the horse stable
in the ruined barn.”

“although I’m fifteen—
and he’s much younger than me,
he’s more well-endowed.”

“his skin high-yellow—
almost albino white boy
I love/hate jewel bad.”

“he leans in the dark—
when the family’s all sleeping
letting me do him.”

“staring straight ahead—
closed eyes set in wooden face
letting me love him.”

“rigid and stoic—
cigar store wood indian
uncut ten inches.”

“patched coveralls off—
enduring his so-called life
from the hips on down.”

“I kneel & he squints—
lowering my needy lips
I’m a cocksucker.”

“he couldn’t find a—
better one than me for sure
I go down on him.”

Jewel

“The sun, an hour
above the horizon,
is poised like a bloody
egg upon a crest of
thunderheads.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“so darl gets me off—
in the evening sometimes twice
he loves young chicken.”

“I play possum dead—
beneath addie’s big thick quilt
my big snake down there”

“a good breeder boy—
a good breed of hogs & cows
pay in the long run.”

“darl bundren does me—
my bedroom eyes get dark rings
down in the gutter.”

“darl goes down on me—
fingers my family jewels
jealous of my dick.”

“I say “okay, darl—
when I lose it all the way
my eyes going blank.”

Darl

“He has pussel-
gutted himself.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“I wait until night—
I can hear them all sleeping
thinking about jewel.”

I’d lie there in bed—
with my shirt-tail up touching
myself in the dark.”

Wondering if jewel—
Is doing it too like me
There in the stable.”

“I’d get up & see—
jewel down there horse barn
fooling with that horse.”

“both of them snorting—
stiff-legged & eyes rolling
cocky & alert.”

“boy and stallion—
two figures carved out for dark
curved sacred tableau.”

“fleshy limberness—
jewel’s snaky lips smirk at me
knowing what I want.”

“sullen, caressing—
loving his obscene equus
groveling for it.”

“jewel, leech-like riding—
my pussy-glutted thick lips
okay, take it darl.”

Jewel

“Darl almost begged
them on his knees”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“It’s because I live—
down here in the horse stables
in stalls full of hay.”

“bare feet in horseshit—
the big red barn full of dung
squeezing thru my toes.”

“it’s because I’m hung—
always hanging around me
like a damn buzzard.”

“I never wash up—
I don’t wanna feel real clean
let me be dirty.”

“darl likes to lick me—
after he sucks me off good
my cheesy smegma.”

“darl is so hard up—
stutters, cringes, begs for it
gets down on his knees.”

“darl, you’re fuckin’ sick—
I wanna tell my brother
shaking my sad head.”

“he can’t help himself—
each time makes it worse next time
darl always wants more.”

Darl

“I knew she was
partial to him.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“I watch jewel each time—
he doesn’t ever ask me
are you ready, darl?”

“he spurts his big wad—
obscenely deliberate
all over my face.”

“he goes to the pail—
drinks again from the cedar
sweet dark orifice.”

“he spits on my face—
says shut-up darl, take it,
he’s so hot-blooded.”

“he’s a head taller—
than me, naked in the stable
standing in horseshit.”

“faint peach-fuzz stubble—
giving his young teenage face
the look of a man.”

“I like it private—
knowing he’s her favorite
addie’s sullen son.”

“this is my way of—
getting even for her love
I make him shameful.”

“I gum his to death—
making him whimper & groan
bending his weak knees.”

“no guy wants it queer—
that’s why I beg for it bad
him feeling guilty.”

Darl

“Come on,
Jewel says.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

jewel’s the sweetest thing—
when he shoots his awful wad
dying in my arms.”

“dying just for me—
all of his vulnerable
young sexy manhood.”

“so well-endowed by—
generous mother nature
almost fainting dead.”

“holding him tightly—
my dying dinge kid brother
my heart full of words.”

“despite his sulking—
pouty temper tantrum fits
losing it real bad.”

“shooting his brains out—
the sound of all that jizzy
male fury & cum.”

“getting that last load—
cherishing jewel each last time
oozing last wiggle.”

“his down-right ugly—
sullen goodbye dying kiss
going spaz on me.”

getting my secret—
selfish, stone-hearted, evil
wish to feel him die.”

“as I lay dying—
jewel’s death-bed last runny squirt
dying in my arms.”

Dewey Dell

“Jewel glances back.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“dewy dell’s like him—
jewel my badboy kid brother
he’s midnight jet-black.”

“down there where it counts—
his mandingo ten inches
his dinge dick all mine.”

“but not really mine—
I’m nothing but his dick-slave
he’s african king.”

“his jet-black penis—
compared t his high yellow
smooth complexion.”

“his lovely jizz-jet—
douching me with seminally
obscene facials.”

“squirting up my nose—
smattering, smearing my lips
so shamelessly rude.”

“dewy dell asks me—
is that why you’re doing jewel?
you wanna be him?”

“what could I say then—
rubbing my poor callused knees
nodding yes to her?”

“if dewy dell could—
only see the awful things
I do to young jewel!”

“squeezing his nutsac—
pealing back his black foreskin
getting his pink head.”

Tull

“’Taint no rush, I say.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“no man dislikes it—
worse than me, tull tells me then,
but there’s no harm done.”

“a guy’s gotta guess—
ahead now & then, you know,
so get him off now.”

“yoknapatawpha’s—
a long ways off & a long
time ago back then.”

“just burying her—
a day’s hard ride to die for
and getting back’s worse.”

“jewel says he’s gonna—
be goin’ & leavin’ you
his mind’s set on it.”

”I hope so tull says—
sooner or later that boy’s
gonna be a man.”

“he carries a grudge—
durn nigh as long as he is,
full of resentment.”

“I’ve seen it, myself—
down under the yazoo bridge
swimming nude & all.”

“no use cryin’ though—
with you all goo-goo eyed &
gap-mouthed for the kid.”

“with you mooning it—
a-straddle it all the time
he’ll never marry.”

Darl

“Down there fooling
with that horse.”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“damn that jewel brother—
I can still see him standing
nude in the stable.”

“smirking down at me—
making me feel perverted
for wanting him bad.”

“my second-sight sees—
him just like he used to be
arrogant, erect.”

“tull tells him stories—
about wise-ass chicks needing
to be shut-up good.”

“tells me to grab them—
my harley handle-bell ears
and fuck their face good.”

“shutting them up nice—
once & for all that’s for sure
make them your dick-slave.”

“I didn’t tell tull—
I got down on my belly
longways like a snake.”

“begged jewel to fuck me—
like I was his cute girlfriend
down & dirty bad.”

“that sounds silly, darl—
it’s not your tight asshole that
that needs to be shut up.”

“jewel shuts me up good—
he almost chokes me to death
his dick down my throat.”

“then I wash my mouth—
with soap & water real good
feeling like a whore.”

Darl

“Jewel whistles again,
the horse comes”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

“jewel’s tool is jet-black—
the rest of him dinge-yellow
kinky bright orange pubes.”

“he takes after our—
dead redhead mommy dearest
he’s her love-child boy.”

“after her divorce—
the whole sordid dinge story
comes out in the light.”

“adopted back then—
in the willows home for lost
unwed mother’s kids.”

“it takes two people—
to make you who you are, girl,
one person to die.”

“jewel won’t say it’s true—
he won’t say it even now,
he knows it’s true though.”

“jewel feels so ashamed—
he just wants to call it quits,
his secret dinge dick.”

“jewel just wants to die—
so I slowly kill him nice
strangling it to death.”

“he’s worth dying for—
jewel’s licorice-dark black penis
his uncut pink head.”

Vardaman

“I feel like a wet
seed wild in the
hot blind earth”
—William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

the sky lies flat down—
the slope onto the secret
stertorous dark earth.

the dead air shapes the—
dead darkness, beyond the
hills of the dead earth.

it lies dead & warm—
touching me naked thru my
damp clothes, silhouettes.

I feel my body—
my bones & flesh listening
coffin’s broken planks.