Nobel

To think
they put

--Papa--

in the shocks

elec-
tro
socks

flat
line
punch

meeting
gloves


* For Ernest Hemingway

Ka'bah

1000 years
before Da Vinci danced
with angels and demons

bedouins recited poetry
respite from tribal war
tossed swords to water
                                       wind
                                                  fire
                                                           night
to Mecca
a child born

mother
               father
                          spirits
                                       flew
O' Khadijah,
brilliant and bold
beside Al-Amin
an angel paying dues
by firelight and sand

breathing life
into thought of one G-D

not
       stature
                    incense
but
        one
                 people

solidarity

O' poor now protected
one hand of Muhammad held
his other clutching onyx of Abraham

Qu'ran
rising deep within his throat

cosmic
             intimate
                            force

The Tree of Life
turning full term

a mystery redefined
through mouths of poets
shifting image
to beauty

Father of Reincarnation
the people did not believe

You, a threat to fabric tightly woven
assassins at your side

no retribution

until the battles began . . .



© Susan Marie

sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . .

stood on the brink
whispered once
and it echoed
a thousandfold
from the depths
of my

mother
fuckin'
lungs

pushing forth
so many lives
lived
lost

to be

yet i know
it was a diaphragmatic release
and all that left my lips
were mere words
falling to their deaths
settling upon salt lambs
grazing upon emerald marsh

and i
on the brink
in repose

screeeeeeeeching:

Why do you have to be so G-D - damned lovely!

i then turned my head
once

and spit
blood


© Susan Marie

aerials

a celestial war raged
as stars barricaded themselves
in symmetrical militant procession
opposing the purpling morningtide

the sky spit forth the clouds
and with it, the moon
leaving itself barren, desolate

my eyes, now wet with brine
held and caught your glare
illuminating this now velvet backdrop

yet no solace was evident
in the firmament this morn'
but two sharks teeth, your eyes
void and emotionless

and i stood apprehensive
in complete darkness
as your hand reached down
from behind the trembling stars

with skeletal grip
impeding breath
you held my thorax
until my throat burst
thunder and lightning

and i vomited thrushes
hidden deep within my belly

simultaneous, they took flight
your spirit, juxtaposed

a disconsolate sketch

of atriums and ventricles

ascending
Heaven.

© Susan Marie 2008

Sun Valley

cirrus rose 

wide eyed as a child
i stood
wanting to reach my hand 
dive into its fleece
melt within the embrace
of this

Hemingway saw these things

scratching bloodink
on his Royal Deluxe
he must have fought
sublimation

to capture

still life photos
of the dead walking

alive

swallowing them whole
spitting them
onto clean white sheets of linen
later to be pressed
and lain

volumes of beauty
side by side

as soldiers marching

an Army of misery

© Susan Marie 2005

day (senyru)

The morning light bathes
breath of life upon your face.
My heart skips a beat.  


© Susan Marie 2004

One Voice

a generation

NOW

the same air and earth
one corner of the globe
to another

its a shame that we pray
for those massacred in mosques
near oil pipelines in Iraq

where acres are stolen
barley
barely
growing

children do not need to go to heaven yet

circles intersect
like pipedreams

it seems so simple
like wishes blown
off of childrens lips
rising as a dandelion crown
spirits vanish
into thin air

gardens
of
afterlife

evicted
confiscated


death
is human
by origin

brothers and sisters
we are storming graveyards
each stone lain
across this great divide

OUR human family

and i twist my hair
in the direction
of the earths rotation
spinning off its axis

OUR ancestors whisper
as fireflames rise to the sky
a nomadic war cry 
volcanic
thunderous

a belting tsunami
rising, rising
like blood boiled
over
and
over
and
over

and when will we realize

that WE

are all

ONE.


© Susan Marie, Nooruddin Jalal, Obaidullah Baheer, Rose Salley, Sohaib Rahman, Michele Rose 2010

shine

i hold the weight of my world

in my palm

my forehead

the one you placed three fingers upon today

i know you are afraid

it's okay

i understand

you tell me you have been scarred 

i nod and smile,

for you have not seen my bandages

reams and rolls lie

in the corners of my thought

i sweep them away like dust

right into the trash

i heal quickly

when you held me

i could feel your heart

beat

as that of a baby bird

i went to move away

you did not let go

raising one hand

as i spoke 

you swept away 

a solitary dangling lock

from my face

and i knew

you need not speak

you said that i were beautiful

and that women like me were rare

and i believe you

i know you

and you realize this

and you see me

as a child

basking in my guile nature

we are of the same raiment

maybe one day

you will open wide

as a morning glory sunrise

and allow me

to exorcise

the woman

that left welts

upon your shine

© Susan Marie 2008

monochrome

i view the world

as a sun rise high

i am high on life and i

see the world

blazing, raising

arms mid air

branches sprouting leaves

and me

fleeing the need

to see

in black and white

i must say

as of late

my sight has been keen

and man, it brings me to my knees

for i see people

with color

race

creed

they shine shine oh how they shine

in my eyes

until i am made to see

in black and white

a motion picture freeze frame

of time time all the time i see

pure esoteric beauty souls spirits bonds

not crayons labeled

palettes cradled

in artist's arms

i copper cover my own lids

and open my third eye

blind

was blind

i view the world

as a sun rise high

© Susan Marie 2007 

The Picnic

Jesus and Jack K.

took Martin by the hand

led him to cool water

on the day of his rebirth in Memphis.

The Baptist was present and they swam

muddied, naked, barefoot

clay clinging to lines

stretched on footpads

between blood red veins

coursing from the Euphrates to the Potomac.

They found Malcolm by the shore.

His sienna skied chin tipped upward.

He held one finger and pointed

onward

towards smoke signals.

The Cherokee were calling

yet another tired warrior home.

Lennon sang

while Lady Di gathered daisies

beneath the Joshua Tree.  

© Susan Marie 2009