or The Whale
By: Chad Faries
Chapter i
LOOMINGS
I am snow hill, roll
and wallow, salt lick for dream;
wed of water wish.
Inlander magnet.
Meditation-sway-grim-mouth;
my belly, story.
Chapter ii
THE CARPET-BAG
Nantucket. Stone rains
outside Spouter-Inn carried
by Euroclydon.
Negros sing. Finished,
the universe is not. Cold,
it is—air, not song.
Chapter iii
THE SPOUTER-INN
A painting I am
not. Nor self-sacrifice—
cannibal. Unsay it.
Man can’t be honest
in any skin. Angels side
with white whales. Sleep well.
Chapter iv
THE COUNTERPANE
Savagely civil,
Queequeg is a pillarfly.
I, caterbutter.
I am mammal-song,
circular and fearful notes.
Harpoons verb me raw.
Chapter v
BREAKFAST
Ishmael said it first:
Timid warrior whalemen.
Skylark complexions.
Imminent jeopardy,
I sally out for swim—
coolly. Genteelly.
…
Chapter xxviii
AHAB
Ahab. Scorched. A Tree.
Perseus pulled from heavens.
Daddy. Enemy.
Listen. Ship knifes water.
Makes melancholy haste. Bleeds.
Flee bleakness. Find me.
…
Chapter lxx
THE SPHYNX
My severed head swings
like a pocketwatch in a
fallen angel’s hand.
No time now, Ahab.
Just a silent, stifled breeze.
Thunder on your brow.
…
Chapter cxviii
THE QUADRANT
Parsee, dead shadow
staring blood-eyed at freshets
of effulgences,
Science, smashed on deck:
We are all blinded by game;
Swear it and die it.
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