A
poem of mine. The title comes from
The Waste Land. I can't stand the
summer in Kentucky, especially
summer days. I try to
sleep through them. I usually succeed, but sometimes I don't. When I don't, something compels me to, despite the
weather, walk
aimlessly around town for
hours.
The town looks so different while the sun is shining.
Burning Burning Burning
While this sun shines down
Searing holes into my eyes and mind
I feel the futility of these too many hours.
And this dust dries my mouth:
Cast it aside, cast it aside. [5]
I pray for the damp and cool:
Drops of London rain
In this most un-London of towns.
The night, and graves with stone saviours
That seem to turn to watch; [10]
A girl with eyes painted black
Showing years of pain and joy
Burning cool with youth and wisdom
(The motley, you see, is a ruse)
These things I long for [15]
But instead the world is suffused
With the orange glow of cosmic embers
And my lips find only ash.
-- Neil Moore
The statues that seem to turn and watch are in
Calvary Cemetery, across the street from the
Lexington Cemetery. The gates are
rusted open, so you can enter
at any hour, though with
dubious legality. The girl is my
friend Jen, who has the most
expressive eyes I have ever seen, and puts a trapezoid of black
eyeliner on the lower half of each upper
eyelid; though I have never seen her wear a full
motley, she does have a black and white
jester's cap.