shaw and jung

by Rg Gregory

shaw had the gift of the crab
how he took the straight idea
and scuttled with it sideways
marking sand and word with sea's
inventions; what shaw perceived
went deeper than the lounger's eye
stripped for entertainment in the sun
shaw's art was nip and prick
sending the red-skinned lounger home
with buzzing brain shocked tongue
and sandstorms stinging in his ears

jung went for niches in the night
believing that the seeds of suns
had tucked themselves away before
the daylight had its uses tamed
and from the furthest midnight-stitch
had control of every tongue
seeping its blossoms into rites
jung saw songs and dreams as coin
for spending in the health shops
sickness was a swallowed laughter
human richness not to be denied

shaw was a man formally dressed
jung a deer with its horns folded
both wrestling with enigmas of
the knotted cell craving for eden
(matings of serpents and apples)
one's wit was in his brain-box
the other's limpid as a crystal ball
they took the ins and outs of life
strove to prime mortality afresh
beyond behaviour; scraped clay
to let creation loose in its re-phrasing





Last updated May 02, 2015