FRANK MEINTJIES

Let’s go to the river

So much is brown and dried out
let’s go to the river to dream

let’s go to the river to dream
the songs of the ages flow there

the songs of the ages flow in my veins
my senses imbibe smoke-clouds & thunder

smoke-clouds and thunder
scald the inner sky   the clouds are on the boil

the clouds are on the boil
the houses are turned upside down

the houses are turned upside down
and crumbs fall from folds

the crumbs fall from the compartments
let’s go to the river to dream

Untitled II

An electric guitar
floating and settling back
tickles the ribcage

meanders in the echo chamber
through the planes   the sheaves   the underlays
and ectoplasm

of this heart

Untitled I

Riven   torn   cleft   muddled   smudged   bedraggled

verses from
the book of books   the scroll of the ages

me
      a chapter

       in the Book of Fragmentations

Walk...

into the body     out of the body
into the shroud that is the tree and its
soft-green leaves and rough-hewn umbra

back into the bougainvillaea bush
that’s my spirit
cherry bright and lit by sun

Slant

the camel’s foot
breaks the straw

time caused stitches
to rupture and ooze to flow

the poor are always with us... and resentment
as a primed grenade