Dead Lovers Are Easiest

Il n’y a rien plus sensible qu’un cadavre
(There is nothing more sensitive than a corpse)
—Anatole Le Braz, Magies de la Bretagne

The dead are easy to love
There’s not a word of a lie
Comes out of their mouths
That we do not place there
Ourselves

Do not be afraid
To say the names of the dead
You will not raise them
From their silent graves
All their ghosts are in your head

Ghosts are luxuries
Fireside and cinema
For storytellers
Who can talk about Horrors
That they are not living with

When Death is closest
Ghosts are nowhere to be seen
Nowhere to be heard
Drowned out by the terror
Of bombs birthing
More nameless numbered dead

I luxuriate
In quiet conversations
Barely audible
Amidst alarm and ennui
Cozy with my Ghost Lover

Hanfeizi said, “Ghosts and gods are easiest to draw.
People are familiar with dogs and cars,
So dogs and cars are the most difficult to draw.
As to ghosts and gods, no one has ever seen them,
so one can draw them any way one likes.”

Dead lovers are easiest
Easier even to draw
Than gods—other ghosts
Lovers’ eyes sketching unique
Self-serving icons

Ghosts do not haunt us
We are the ones haunting them
With dead-end desires

I have decided
Your ghost is a happy one
Forever dancing
Amid those purple flowers
On that sunlit summer day

The days that remain
Be they happy sad long short
They’ll be without you
This clarity of death means
That this is not poetry

A poem requires
Something—not nothing
Some purple flowers
A dancing ghost—some such thing
To pin itself to—not death

No, your death cannot be poetry.

AGG20240302

Depth Charge: At the THROW Poetry Slam on March 2, 2024, I performed this poem, which actually a remix of four separate poems from Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin , poems written over the course of a year after Alain Bonkela Isekatuli died.   

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

Nothing Gained (Redux)

In Memoriam
Alain Bonkela Isekatuli
Born, Kinshasa, May 23 1970—Died, Montreal, June 10 2021

We did not know it
At the time—we only knew
The touch and the taste
Of each other—the rising
And the falling of our breath

As we fell asleep
And the heat we added
To the June twilight
Faded into the darkness
We did not know it—not then

•  

I kissed you into a cab
Waved you into the night
Not knowing five days later
You would be dead

I have not seen you since
Which might not seem odd
But that I have seen others

One day in a food court at a mall
I saw a friend eating chow mein
And stifled a wave remembering
He’d been dead a year gone

If you do not want to encounter
The ghost of the departed
You should gently kiss their forehead
Before the coffin lid is closed
For the final time
Something I had seen done
Something I did 
Over and over again
As a child attending funerals

Crying women surrounded
Your coffin—I had no chance
To make that final gesture
To seal our worlds apart

So, what is stopping you
From appearing now?

Except twice—and only twice—in  dreams
Once—wearing a bright white shirt
Wide-eyed and bewildered—you said
“Andy, where is this coming from?”
And you pointed
To the centre of your chest
Where spots of dark red blood
Seeped through shimmering silk

Then I knew it is not good
That you are buried
In a Catholic graveyard
Filled with statues of Jesus Christ pointing
To his Sacred Bleeding Heart

Now at the end of our nine-year adventure
You have gained nothingness
And while I have not lost everything
I have lost a lot

And fading memory will take the rest
You will become
An empty space bracketed
By my outstretched arms
A sudden wilderness
Of elongating waves

•  

 Born out of our touch—
A caress a kiss a fuck
Now—all out of reach
I’d press my ear to your grave
But fear I will hear you say
—Join me, please! 

AGG20220516 Redux AGG20240302

Depth Charge: At the THROW Poetry Slam on March 2, 2024, I performed this poem, which actually a remix of three separate poems from Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin , poems written over the course of a year after Alain died.   

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

Dick Pics (A Queering of 诗经: 伐柯)

How to get some dick?
Can’t be done without a dick pic
Uncut cut hairy smooth ass and abs
All detailed on a cruising app

Dick pic for dick pic—lickety-split
So many men glow on the grid
Who hosts? Who travels? Simple! Quick!
Lube poppers arrayed— tout de suite!  

AGG20240209

Depth Charge: The Book of Poetry, 诗经 — also referred to as the  Book of Odes, The Classic of Poetry, or The Book of Songs — was compiled two and a half-millennia ago from material thought to be at least three thousand years old.  As with all books worth their salt, the Classic of Poetry was banned and burned for a period, but ultimately restored to its pride of place as the well-spring of Classical Chinese poetry. As with all things created by the Normies throughout history and across all cultures, it could use a bit of queering. 

《詩經 – Book of Poetry》
《國風 – Lessons from the states》
《豳風 – Odes Of Bin》
《伐柯 – Axe-Handle》

English translation: James Legge

In hewing [the wood for] an axe-handle, how do you proceed?
Without [another] axe it cannot be done.
In taking a wife, how do you proceed?
Without a go-between it cannot be done.

In hewing an axe-handle, in hewing an axe-handle,
The pattern is not far off.
I see the lady,
And forthwith the vessels are arranged in rows.

伐柯
伐柯如何、匪斧不克。
取妻如何、匪媒不得。

伐柯伐柯、其則不遠。
我覯之子、籩豆有踐。

Fá kē
Fá kē rúhé, fěi fǔ bù kè.  Ab/ab
Qǔ qī rúhé, fěi méi bùdé. Ab/ab

Fá kē fá kē, qí zé bù yuǎn.
Wǒ gòu zhīzǐ, biān dòu yǒu jiàn.

Fashion an ax handle/how; not/axe/not be able to.
To take -to get-to choose -to fetch/wife/how-what way-what; not/matchmaker-go-between-(news)media/ must not-may not-not to be allowed-cannot.

Fashion an ax handle/fashion an ax handle; his-her-its-their-that-such-it (refers to sth preceding it)/(literary) (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous clause) but-then -(bound form) standard- norm-(bound form) principle – (literary) to imitate- to follow/not/far-distant-remote.

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

My Mother Eats Jesus

My mother eats
My mother eats meat and potatoes
Bleached and leather tough
My mother eats
My mother eats crow
Dished up a drunk
Hard to swallow
My mother eats
My mother eats Jesus once a week
Once every day during lent
Difficult diet
Designated by cardinals
And priests and popes
Men one and all.
She says,
To her little man,
“One day your whole life
Will
    Fall
         Apart.”
She says,
“You’ll realize you’ve got to
Hold on to something
Bigger than yourself.”
So, With the belief my life was
Destined for disaster
But If Jesus was in me
The skies would part
And  I would know
I ate
I ate meat and potatoes
I ate
I ate crow
I ate
I ate Jesus once a week
Once every day during Lent
But the menu grew boring
And being freer to transgress
Than My mother
(Forever self-reinforced return
to altar
to stove to cloister)
I finally figured out
Transubstantiation
Was a not so white lie
Those starchy little wafers
Don’t taste like any man
I’ve ever had
In my
Mouth.

AGG Sometime in the Nineteen Eighties
Revised AGG20241218

Depth Charge: At the THROW Poetry Slam on February 3, 2024, I was the Sacrificial Poet, which meant that I read a poem that was then scored by the Judges, but only for their practice, as I was not in competition.  I decided to read the first poem I ever wrote, “My Mother Eats Jesus,” written in 1985, or thereabouts, and performed originally with GRIND Poetry Collective in Kingston, Ontario. 

 

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

The fire like purple loosestrife (A Queering of 诗经: 葛覃 )

The fire like purple loosestrife has already spread
Halfway across the valley
And will reach the cemetery soon
All my nightmares since you left are waking dreams
Mouthed by broadcasters every hour-on-the-hour
Perched like birds on microphones they sing and sing
As if there was something new in the news

No longer any need to wash the clothes
I’d picked out to visit your resting place
Already ash beneath the cold clay
The heat of this world in flames
Can do you no more harm—but then again
It is not for your comfort that I would go

So thank you father for showing me
Life could be much more than the sum
Of what our shared history implied
Thank you mother for you gave me
This beating heart that broke
When they laid you in your grave

AGG20240122

Depth Charge: The Book of Poetry, 诗经 — also referred to as the  Book of Odes, The Classic of Poetry, or The Book of Songs — was compiled two and a half-millennia ago from material thought to be at least three thousand years old.  As with all books worth their salt, the Classic of Poetry was banned and burned for a period, but ultimately restored to its pride of place as the well-spring of Classical Chinese poetry. As with all things created by the Normies throughout history and across all cultures, it could use a bit of queering. 

《詩經 – Book of Poetry》
《國風 – Lessons from the states》
《周南 – Odes Of Zhou And The South》
《葛覃 – Ge Tan》

How the dolichos spread itself out,
Extending to the middle of the valley!
Its leaves were luxuriant;
The yellow birds flew about,
And collected on the thickly growing trees,
Their pleasant notes resounding far.

How the dolichos spread itself out,
Extending to the middle of the valley!
Its leaves were luxuriant and dense.
I cut it and I boiled it,
And made both fine cloth and coarse,
Which I will wear without getting tired of it

I have told the matron,
Who will announce that I am going to see my parents.
I will wash my private clothes clean,
And I will rinse my robes.
Which need to be rinsed, which do not?
I am going back to visit my parents.

English translation: James Legge               

葛之覃兮、施于中谷。
維葉萋萋、黃鳥于飛。
集于灌木、其鳴喈喈。

Gé zhī tán xī, shī yú zhōnggǔ.
Wéi yè qī qī, huáng niǎo yú fēi.
Jí yú guànmù, qí míng jiē jiē.

葛之覃兮、施于中谷。
維葉莫莫、是刈是濩。
為絺為綌、服之無斁。

Gé zhī tán xī, shī yú zhōnggǔ.
Wéi yè mò mò, shì yì shì huò.
Wèi chī wèi xì, fú zhī wú yì.

言告師氏、言告言歸。
薄污我私、薄澣我衣。
害澣害否、歸寧父母 。

Yán gào shī shì, yán gào yán guī.
Báo wū wǒ sī, báo huàn wǒ yī.
Hài huàn hài fǒu, guīníng fùmǔ

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

You ascend like a bird taking flight (A Queering of 诗经: 雄雉)

Like the sun and the moon,
You appeared so distant;
How could you ever come to me?
And yet you have—many times.

Innumerable are the men
Who have shared your virile grace,
Been held in your strong arms
That covet nothing and harm no one.

You descend like clouds on a mountain top;
You ascend like a bird taking flight.
Only those who would possess you
Are heart-broken by your freedom.

Fools, to wish that the bird as it alights
Will not in turn again take flight
Is to desire the sun, the moon—time itself—
Cease their cycles just for you.

AGG20240119

Depth Charge: The Book of Poetry, 诗经 — also referred to as the  Book of Odes, The Classic of Poetry, or The Book of Songs — was compiled two and a half-millennia ago from material thought to be at least three thousand years old.  As with all books worth their salt, the Classic of Poetry was banned and burned for a period, but ultimately restored to its pride of place as the well-spring of Classical Chinese poetry. As with all things created by the Normies throughout history and across all cultures, it could use a bit of queering. 

《國風 – Lessons from the states》
《邶風 – Odes Of Bei》
《雄雉 – Male Pheasant》

English translation: James Legge

The male pheasant flies away,
Lazily moving his wings.
The man of my heart! –
He has brought on us this separation.

The pheasant has flown away,
But from below, from above, comes his voice.
Ah! the princely man! –
He afflicts my heart.

Look at that sun and moon!
Long, long do I think.
The way is distant;
How can he come to me?

All ye princely men,
Know ye not his virtuous conduct?
He hates none; he covets nothing; –
What does he which is not good?

雄雉于飛、泄泄其羽。
我之懷矣、自詒伊阻。

Xióng zhì yú fēi, xiè xiè qí yǔ.
Wǒ zhī huái yǐ, zì yí yī zǔ.

Male/ringed pheasant/to go-to take/to fly,
Lazily/leisurely/his-her-its-their/wing.
My/possessive particle/Bosom-heart-mind/
particle denoting sense has been fully expressed,
Self-from-since/present-bequeath/he-she-you-that/separation

雄雉于飛、下上其音。
展矣君子、實勞我心。

Xióng zhì yú fēi, xià shàng qí yīn.
Zhǎn yǐ jūnzǐ, shí láo wǒ xīn.

Male/ringed pheasant/to go-to take/to fly,
Below/Above/his-hers-its-their/sound-noise-musical note.
Spread-out-Exhibit/ particle denoting sense has been fully expressed/noble-man,
Really-truly-honestly/toil-labor-trouble sb-console/I-my-mine/heart-mind-core.

瞻彼日月、悠悠我思。
道之云遠、曷云能來。

Zhān bǐ rì yuè, yōuyōu wǒ sī.
Dào zhī yún yuǎn, hé yún néng lái.

Gaze-view/(one) another/sun/moon,
Preposterous-pensive-remote in time or space-drawn out/I-me-my-mine/think-consider.
Path-way/It-he-she-possessive particle/to say-to speak-an expletive/far-distant,
Why-how-when-what-where/to say-to speak-an expletive/to be able to/to come

Look at that sun and moon!
Long, long do I think.
The way is distant;
How can he come to me?

百爾君子、不知德行。
不忮不求、何用不臧。

Bǎi ěr jūnzǐ, bùzhī déxíng.
Bù zhì bù qiú, hé yòng bù zāng.

Hundred-numerous-all kinds of/thus-so-like that-you-thou/noble-man,
Not knowing-unaware-not to admit sthng/virtuous/conduct.
To be free of jealousy or greed,
what-how-why-which-carry/to use-employ-have/no-not so-un-/good-right (first tone)-viscera-organ (fourth tone)

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

Moon, spare a thought for yourself too— Aiya!(A Queering of 诗经: 月出 )

Moon, rising fair— Aiya!
All longing and loveliness— Aiya!
Illuminate this world— Aiya!
Leveled by bombs and despair— Aiya!

Moon, rising white—Aiya!
What misery does your brightness reveal— Aiya!
The refugee camp by the overpass— Aiya!
Again consumed by flames alight — Aiya!

Moon, spare a thought for yourself too—Aiya!
Don’t you know? Don’t you know? —Aiya!
The covetous eyes of greedy men—Aiya!
Plot to possess to enchain to rape you—Aiya!

AGG2024012

Depth Charge: The Book of Poetry, 诗经 — also referred to as the  Book of Odes, The Classic of Poetry, or The Book of Songs — was compiled two and a half-millennia ago from material thought to be at least three thousand years old.  As with all books worth their salt, the Classic of Poetry was banned and burned for a period, but ultimately restored to its pride of place as the well-spring of Classical Chinese poetry. As with all things created by the Normies throughout history and across all cultures, it could use a bit of queering. 

《诗经 – The Book of Poetry》
《國風 – Lessons from the states》
《陳風 – Odes Of Chen》
《月出 – The Moon Comes Out》           

月出皎兮、佼人僚兮。
舒窈糾兮、勞心悄兮。

Yuè chū jiǎo xī, jiǎo rén liǎo xī.
Shū yǎo jiū xī, láoxīn qiāo xī.

Moon/come out/bright-white/Exclamatory Particle
Handsome/person/a pretty face/exclamatory Particle
Stretch-unfold-relax-leisurely/intense longings/exclamatory particle
Rack one’s brains-worry/anxious-worried-stealthy-quiet/exclamatory particle

The moon comes forth in her brightness;
How lovely is that beautiful lady!
O to have my deep longings for her relieved!
How anxious is my toiled heart!

月出皓兮、佼人懰兮。
舒懮受兮、勞心慅兮。

Yuè chū hào xī, jiǎo rén liú xī.
Shū yǒu shòu xī, láoxīn sāo xī.

Moon/comes out/bright-luminous-white/exclamatory particle
Handsome/person/lovely-beautiful/exclamatory particle
Stretch-unfold-relax-leisurely/grievous-relaxed/receive-accept-suffer-bear-stand-pleasant/Exclamatory particle
Rack one’s brains-worry/agitated/exclamatory particle

The moon comes forth in her splendour;
How attractive is that beautiful lady!
O to have my anxieties about her relieved!
How agitated is my toiled heart!

月出照兮、佼人燎兮。
舒夭紹兮、勞心慘兮。

Yuè chū zhào xī, jiǎo rén liáo xī.
Shū yāo shào xī, láoxīn cǎn xī.

Moon/comes out/shine-illuminate-reflect/exclamatory particle
Handsome/person/burn-set afire/exclamatory particle
Stretch-unfold-relax-leisurely/young fresh tender/continue-carry on/exclamatory particle
Rack one’s brains-worry/miserable-wretched-curel-inhuman-disastrous-tragic-dim-gloomy/exclamatory particle

The moon comes forth and shines;
How brilliant is that beautiful lady!
O to have the chains of my mind relaxed!
How miserable is my toiled heart!

English translation: James Legge

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

AFSOL 2024 REDUX

A fish out of water
A fish shit out of luck
I find you shimmering
Silver and sky-blue
Small so small
No bigger than my thumb
Dead on the red sand
Of the north shore

Thirty-six years ago
There was a whale
A big whale
A big blue whale
Beached at Nail Pond
As dead as a door nail
Crowds came
From miles around
To gawk at her
Marvel at her
Enormous
Walk-in vagina
“Da size of da friggin’ ting?”

Someone took a chainsaw
Cut off her flipper
Everyone wanted a piece of her
So they buried her on the beach
But twenty-one years later
They dug her up
Shipped her bones to BC
Her skeleton shining now
From sea to sea
On display for all to see
We like our deaths
Spectacular or not all

Who gives a shit
About a little silver fish
The seagulls sitting silent fat
Glowing white in the morning light
Not interested in the least
Disdaining to feast
On your corpse

You will simply dissolve
Into the Island’s shifting shores
Recently ripped and re-woven
By Hurricane Fiona
An omen a warning
Of a sky change
Of an earth change
Of a sea change
Of all that is rich and strange
Now deranged

Epekwitk
Just another small fish
In a warming sea
Epekwitk
Another fish in the water
Another fish shit out of luck

AGG20230802
Revised AGG22240106

Depth Charge: This piece is a revision of a piece I wrote and performed last August at Kinley’s Open Mic, Baba’s Lounge, Charlottetown PEI.  I performed the piece at Throw Poetry Collective’s Slam on January 6, 2024.  This poem references a blue whale that I have written about in the past. 

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

The Chaos of Our Bodies (for you who died in the Year of the Dragon)

How can such a creature exist,
One minute resting corpse-still,
The next all golden-dragon-coiling-mist?
How to speak to such a being,
One minute loud as thunderclaps,
The next silent as the abyss?

You insisted on dressing me,
While you remained naked—
Beautifully so— and said,
“With these clothes on
You look nothing like you are
In bed, but it is not a lie,
Not a disguise, it is a second skin. “

“故天地之塞，吾其體；天地之帥，吾其性。
Gù tiāndì zhī sāi, wú qí tǐ. tiāndì zhī shuài, wú qí xìng.
“Therefore it’s as if our bodies are the stuff of heaven and earth;
It’s as if our natures follow the commands of the universe.”

Strange how being naked dissolves
The illusion of our bodies,
Clothes like border guards
Deserting their posts.

Feeling him, I think of you.

A memory as red as meat,
As vibrant as crickets,
Desire as simple, as keen
As the thing under childhood’s bed,
Waiting
To give kisses to the dream
That is our flesh,
As translucent as jellyfish,
As transient as tadpoles,
Lucifugous—
Evolving in the night.

“乾稱父，坤稱母；予茲藐焉，乃混然中處。
Qián chēng fù, kūn chēng mǔ, yú zī miǎo yān, nǎi hùnrán zhōng chǔ.
Heaven is father, Earth is mother,
I this tiny being, am mixed in the midst of it all.”

Now that you’ve been dead
These twenty-four long years,
I think it’s high time we talked,
You cock-mad boy,
Wild for the touch of men,
Your lust for life
Burned you alive,
Leaving us to warm ourselves
Over your ashes,
On your half-remembered graces,
Leaving us to attempt alone
Our awkward waltzes.
I’ve made so many missteps
I could complain
It is hard to move gracefully
With one foot in the grave,
Yet you did it,
Made your dance to the cemetery
So uniquely your own,
Knowing
The sky is your father,
The earth is your mother,
And so at the very end,
As you reluctantly left,
The universe enfolded you,
Somewhere in the small corners
Of the chaos called our hearts.

AGG20240106

Depth Charge: Another chimera, another 骐麟, I cobbled together three poems written in 2011 and published in  Songs about Sex Death and Cicadas, see below, with two quotes from the Western Inscription, 西铭, by Zhang Zai, 张载, 1020-1077 CE,  and performed the piece at Throw Poetry Collective’s Slam on January 6, 2024.  

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”

On the Paths to the East (A Queering of 诗经: 出其东门)

On the paths to the east
Men young and old go
Like so many shadows at night;
Like clouds across
The face of the moon
Soon forgotten.

There. Black sweats
and Adidas hoodie—
he makes my evening.

In the woods near the overpass
Go men supple and strong
Pliant as reeds in the wind;
Now bending
Now standing
Then gone.

There. Blue jeans
and black leather jacket—
he makes me rejoice.

AGG20240104

Depth Charge: The Book of Poetry, 诗经 — also referred to as the  Book of Odes, The Classic of Poetry, or The Book of Songs — was compiled two and a half-millennia ago from material thought to be at least three thousand years old.  As with all books worth their salt, the Classic of Poetry was banned and burned for a period, but ultimately restored to its pride of place as the well-spring of Classical Chinese poetry. As with all things created by the Normies throughout history and across all cultures, it could use a bit of queering. 

《诗经 : 國風 : 鄭風 : 出其東門》

出其东门，有女如云。
虽则如云，匪我思存。

缟衣綦巾，聊乐我员。

出其闉闍，有女如荼。
虽则如荼，匪我思且。

缟衣茹藘，聊可与娱。

Classic of Poetry: Lessons from the States: Odes of Zheng: Near the East Gate

Near the East Gate
Young women go
Like so many clouds all day;
Like drifting clouds
A thought of them
Soon blows away

There. White robe
and a blue scarf—
she makes my day.

Near the Great Tower and Wall
Go slender girls
Like reeds by the river’s edge;
Like bending reeds
A thought of them
Soon passes by.

There. White robe
and a purple scarf—
She makes me rejoice.

(Translated by Heng Kuan, from Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry, Ed. By Wu-chi Liu and Irving Yucheng Lo)

To read it, just click on the link here Nothing Gained by Andrew Grimes Griffin. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read Songs about Sex, Death & Cicadas by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read as close as the clouds by Andrew Grimes Griffin, just click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”
To read the chapbook Happy Birthday Hanafuda by Andrew Grimes Griffinjust click on the link. To download a pdf, right click on the link and select “Save link as…”