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Spiral Chambers Issue 05
From rita@locust.cic.net Wed Feb 11 12:34:07 1996
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Subject: Spiral Chamber Online - February, 1996
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SPIRAL CHAMBERS ONLINE
February, 1996
Issue #5
**********
*CONTENTS*
**********
Introduction ...Section 1
"of mist, and sand, and glass"
by Sestina Vireli ...Section 2
General Info About Spiral Chambers ...Section 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spiral Chambers, issue 5, volume 1. Published monthly by the PSK Publishing
Company, P.O. Box 772, Mentor, Ohio 44061. Copyright 1995 by the PSK
Publishing Company. All works herein may be reprinted. In fact, reproduction
of this electronic publication is encouraged, so long as the works are not
altered in any way, shape or form and credit is given to both Spiral Chambers
and the work's respective author. For information on reproduction rights,
submission guidelines, subscription information or for general inquiries,
write to: Spiral Chambers, P.O. Box 772, Mentor, Ohio 44061. Over the
internet: Repsi SK@AOL.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********
*Section 1*
***********************
INTRODUCTION
--------
Where has the month gone? By my account, only yesterday I was correcting
Spiral Chambers' sending errors and answering replies to last month's column.
Lo and behold, now here we are again! The year of 1996 has been a swift and
deceptive little companion, to be sure.
This month Spiral Chambers is varying from its normal format. Instead of
featuring four or so fantastic poems of average length, this month we're
singularly focusing on Sestina Vireli's grand, epic work, "of mist, and sand,
and glass". The poem is so expansive and detailed, we've decided to devote
this month's entire edition to its story. Next month we'll return to our
regular collection of work...and with a bang, too. Some great poetry is
scheduled for March, like John Tynes' "Black Light", an imperceptibly eerie
take on the imperfect romance.
Remember to E-mail me with any comments, suggestions or submissions of your
own. I'd love to hear your criticism and possibly include your work in the
column. Here's a thought for a new feature in Spiral Chambers Online: Should
each installment include a letters section, where readers can voice their
opinions? I'm hesitant to add more work for myself, what with the various
forms of S.C., Nation magazine and the publishing company, but a truly
enthusiastic response could very easily prompt me to add the section.
Enjoy...
The poetically inclined,
Peter Scott
**********
*Section 2*
***********************
"of mist, and sand, and glass"
--------
by Sestina Vireli
OF MIST,
Here in this wilderness of white
whose crystal daggers pierce the curtain of my vision
I wait entombed in my desire
for the fancy of my will
for the gown it will make of me
and the places in it I will travel
But you were there in a wilderness too
whose breadth and height I remember in my imaginings
silent in a silence wrapping like a shroud around
the words that once lay between us
sharp and clear and beckoning
that pricked the edges of my soul
and I bled raw joy for your feasting
silent in your words that now fall between us
in exaggerated politeness recalling the mundane
details of your life as though I were some distant
cousin to the tale of your reminiscences
some partner in the half-truth of your other self
There is in the space of this imbroglio
a wildness beating through my mind
a knowing and an uncertainty like a mist
enveloping an immiscible landscape I once knew
and now find myself lost in and into which
your silence cuts through coming from all around
having no dimension no direction no sound
in this misty place my yearnings have led me
I remain silent here and still wandering
in that strange delusion questioning your forbearance
the prickly obloquy of my hubris
the remnants of unfeasibility swirling around
my ankles tangled in the tattered remnants of a gown
my telic footsteps entwine as I hold pertinaciously to that longing
and I am soft and moist and open like the earth in spring
What wondrous things spring from my memory
curling around my thighs in smoky tendrils
these were the dreams you wove all gray mist now
and sullen companions revisited again and again
on a crystal page as blank and empty as the moon
and shining as brightly and as distant and unassailable
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
AND SAND,
Here in the silence of this barren landscape we must come to know
crawling in the dust of our desires the secret places
like water for whose lack we would die for our thirst
we would destroy even one tremulous blossom
our vision clouded with thirst and an immediacy of life
we trample that fragile beauty beneath us
giving in to the demands outside ourselves
our hearts would cry See! yet our minds journey on
seeking comfort and solace in things tangible
We come here shod protecting our delicate footsteps
from the sabulous heat of this place as it rises up into us
dragging us to the heart of it wrenching our souls
in perfidy to our desires we scan the distant horizon
balancing the sunset glaze on our memory
the promise of shade the suggestion of respite
from the merciless heat that consumes us
We emerge with the creatures of the night
who spread wings and seek with eyes accustomed
to the lunar light the creatures who scurry
freed from their diurnal habitation to examine
the progression of the nightly games
and with us cast about in anticipation
like gamin for the feast the dark tenders
and succumb to that wild beating falling upon
us out of nowhere and we are the feasted upon
who came looking for the bacchanalian revelry
in a reptilian race breathless in anticipation
of the moment when the sharp beak of the
night hunter rips our souls asunder and exposes
us raw and bleeding to the rapture we craved
And in that moment before the dark takes us
we speak one final time and let fall between us
sparkling in that silver light the desires we
disallowed and watch them sprinkle to the earth
and lay like so many motes dry and brittle
and lackluster lying in the shadows
of where once we had come so close to being
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
AND GLASS.
Emerging translucent and reaching through that crystal
catafalque to stare with open eyes unknowing upon
the brilliant shards of our remains
lying glittering and blinding in the sun's reflected
glory remembering heat remembering mist
remembering
Finally the illusion and seeing for once clear and
unfettered the true self the true other the truth
between reflected back like a mirror balanced
between the day and the night and containing
both lunar and stellar light both silvery radiance
and golden joy
And knowing in that mirroring the path between
and the path back to the self to the soul to the other
and the way between clear and warm and moist
and ready
waiting.
**********
*Section 3*
***********************
SPIRAL CHAMBERS
--------
Spiral Chambers is a syndicated poetry column that is distributed without
charge to magazines of various degrees in size and content. Conceived in July
of 1994, Spiral Chambers endeavors to unite the publisher with the artist,
forming an interdependent bond where both profit from the other's success.
Published monthly, Spiral Chambers offers small-press publications free
poetry without having to search and advertise for poets, weed through
mountains of marginal submissions or even create the page layout. The poet,
on the other hand, gets an instant world-wide audience, has their work
broadcast to diverse cultural circles and bypasses the hassle of finding and
sending their work to hundreds of publications. All parties profit and grow
simultaneously from Spiral Chambers. This E-zine is offered as an electronic
venue for the column. Help us grow: Tell your friends about Spiral Chambers!
For complete guidelines, write to: RepsiSK@AOL.com
