“If only poems were easy and the world not so crazy!”
--R. Anbian
I woke up on a hill, moist, be-dreamed, affixed
To stars and Sumerian whisperings of sane simplicity.
The vestige of fiery amurrû, burnt listless in my chest –
I saw the coming armies, walls, decrees against my silence.
The touch of human fingertips beneath sky’s blanket heat
Made matter, sense and temperament a mere atomic aside.
The witness of the morning’s grasp for mere shelter, gave way
To kindled madness, Passion frightened, witness denied.
My hope was for differance, the critical witness beyond the pale
Of law and latitude, distrustful promise, ambition,
Cant respect or puppet speech in dry coffee houses.
My hope: for a fellow stranger, with openness the only request
Until the giving is the grace of es gibt,
A here-ness against preparedness., where the poem,
The making and the made, retreat into there hiding.
And what goes on goes on without me.
Wikipedia says: Amurru (or Martu) are names given in Akkadian and Sumerian texts to the god of the Amorite/Amurru people, often forming part of personal names. He is sometimes called Ilu Amurru (DMAR.TU).
[edit] Description
This god Amurru/Martu is sometimes described as a 'shepherd', and as a son of the sky-god Anu. He is sometimes called bêlu šadī or bêl šadê, 'lord of the mountain'; dúr-hur-sag-gá sikil-a-ke, 'He who dwells on the pure mountain'; and kur-za-gan ti-[la], 'who inhabits the shining mountain'. In Cappadocian Zinčirli inscriptions he is called ì-li a-bi-a, 'the god of my father'.[citation needed]
Accordingly, it has been suggested by L. R. Bailey (1968) and Jean Ouelette (1969), that this Bêl Šadê might be the same as the Biblical ’Ēl Šaddāi who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the "Priestly source" of narrative, according to the documentary hypothesis. It is possible that Šaddāi means 'He of the mountains' or even 'the breasted God' as early iconography of Yahweh at Kuntilet Arjud shows him to have been hermaphroditic (possessing both breasts and male genitals). Alternately, Bêl Šadê could have been the fertility-god 'Ba'al', possibly adopted by the Canaanites, a rival and enemy of the Hebrew God YHWH, and famously combatted by the Hebrew prophet Elijah.
Amurru also has storm-god features. Like Adad, Amurru bears the epithet ramān 'thunderer', and he is even called bāriqu 'hurler of the thunderbolt' and Adad ša a-bu-be 'Adad of the deluge'. Yet his iconography is distinct from that of Adad, and he sometimes appears alongside Adad with a baton of power or throwstick, while Adad bears a conventional thunderbolt.
I love this Peter, much food to bite into! Every line is packed, I can't sinle favorite.It sounds, feels, means rich. Love the title and the ending:
A here-ness against preparedness., where the poem,
The making and the made, retreat into there hiding.
And what goes on goes on without me.
Amen!
K.Q.
Thanks, Khalida. The association between amurrû , the 'mountain gpd' and the hill of the first line was there before I'd done the research. The title is from a poem by my friend, Robert Anbian:
Indignation
by Robert Anbian
(after Charles Cros)
I could’ve lived the life of a simple craftsman,
Nourished on radishes, river water, and the morning haze.
If only poems were easy and the world not so crazy!
I dream of knives, olives, souls who are absent.
Oh, to have a house made entirely of laughter!
My wife, inventor of my home, loves me without guile,
Despite the bitter notion that I am an exile,
And incapable of being happy here or ever after.
Where lies the home country of piney woods
And lunar meadows from which I am banned?
Where blazes the hearth where I might singe my hands?
Where flows the balm of a merciful sisterhood?
In exile, I have dreamt all, said all, sounded
Every tocsin; I welcomed every feeling, joy, rage, pain;
One could hear me, read me, see me, all the same
People everywhere vanished in sleep, dumbfounded…
Glad to hear from you,
Peter
Thanks Peter. Yours and your friend's are both beautiful poems; perhaps one compass, different directions.
K.Q.
aye.