SEPTEMBER'S SEARCH FOR DUENDE
(After Lorca, for Peter Ludwin)

The search ends when the
duende is encountered as the reason why a bit of bile
is stuck @ the base of the throat clearly
not
a muse or angel but a
power says Lorca
and
not an angel of protection or a latent antepasado
a lost ancestor to shape
behavior for the preservation of the strain ((the strand))
it
is not madness per se but
a reason why the ear-slicing madness exists the
struggle what makes it so. What makes it so deadly
& fierce the push toward homicide re-directed yet
not a path per se
a notion or
concept     concept what triggers the itch no skin-scratching will cure.
It is the fire Artaud knew
burns the cells like a memory of crucifixion
the muscle memory of a spike
blood w/ no avenue to splurt implodes & marks a soul
like a nuclear tattoo or
powdered
glass in the jar we thot was sugar-filled.
That freshness wholly unknown
it requires a living body as interpreter
exhausts all intellect
that ultimate metallic quality of death
it coulda been an aneurysm it
rejects measured rhythm the wild river pours its own path
all the cows stranded on the last patch of higher ground.
The duende is what creates the subtle grimace as
sweet as prolonged uncertain childbirth the
geometry of destruction
one force of nature mother didn’t tell you about
has pushed men to madness & Lorca
learned duende scares the muse it may be
that sound behind you when the forest is on fire
it is the force what compromises your grip on the cliff a rock
breaks off from under your foot & duende
w/ the taste of your heart in your throat duende is
all smiles that you never see the
styles you break from the moon on a moonless night’s incessant tug into the blood-filled dawn.

p a u l   n e l s o n
a u b u r n,   w a s h i n g t o n

Paul Nelson's mother was born in Cuba of Spanish Celtic ancestry.

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