O Fílos Sou, o Drákos

*Musical accompaniment in the Author Notes

..

Chapter 1.  
A naked desire to consume,  

In optimal conditions,  
We're born  
Into the palm  
Of a vice  
Of brutal mathematical  
Exactitude, wherein constant  
Maintenance of a homeostatic  
Balance of chemicals,  
Temperatures and  
Pressures is required  
To avoid agony  
And dissolution  
 
Rock breaks scissors  
 
Steady the strait  
Betwixt Scylla and Charybdis  
 
Rigid thumbs snake and  
Press,  
One,  
Upon  
Another  
 
Paper covers rock  
 
Screen doors  
Sink  
Submarines, which  
Torpedo  
Battleships  
 
Scissors cut paper  
 
This paradigm  
Of intrinsically cruel  
Calculus  
 
..  
 
Chapter 2.  
Sheathed in scales of sun fire’s resplendence,  
 
Took an afternoon constitutional,  
Spring's svelte bodice yielding  
Ground, to the  
Glaring,  
Bronzed  
Blitzkrieg  
Bluster of summer’s  
Arid  
Onslaught  
 
(Let’s begin with weather  
Paint the milieu)  
 
Seasons continue their steady  
Successions  
 
On the barrel  
Rolls,  
On we  
Run  
 
I am sheets of tender  
Red fields  
Beneath a  
Merciless  
Scythe  
 
I enjoy seeing  
Clouds  
Gather  
En masse,  
Their mammoth  
Shadows  
Slide across the  
Ground,  
Swift,  
In encroaching,  
Penumbral  
Silence  
 
Reminds me of the processes  
Of transformation  
That are  
Always  
Occurring,  
Without preamble,  
Vibrating  
Steadily, in the low  
Register  
Of our molecules  
And awareness  
 
I smile as the children  
Dance  
Upon the sands  
Amidst the ubiquitous  
Light  
 
Ebullient  
Eyes  
Reduced to  
Louvers  
 
..  
 
Chapter 3.  
My musical talons,  
 
Let’s begin (in earnest)  
 
Contention:  
Subjective observations  
About truth  
Are  
Not truth, no more than  
Objectification of sensory  
Reality, is reality  
They are  
Inaccurate  
Approximations  
 
There is far more to  
Being, than we  
Perceive,  
Within three  
Dimensions  
Of sensate  
Ingestion  
Perceived through a  
Colored  
Lens  
Of prior experience  
Bias  
 
Vague images glimpsed with  
Warbling, indistinct  
Outlines, composed of  
Vast, hidden dimensions of  
Energetic and chemical  
Constellations, mitochondrial  
Power plants firing in electro  
Chemical bursts, leukocytes surge  
And mass into any  
Breach of integrity,  
Peristalsis distributes chyme  
Into its constituent  
Nutrients, to various  
Organs, which each perform their  
Intricately apportioned  
Maneuvers, by a hierarchy of  
Governance which begins at the  
Apex of the spine, where the basal  
Ganglia directs vast, subliminal  
Operations, extends to  
The crowning  
Neocortex, wherein  
Superliminal cognition, generation of motor  
Commands, sensory  
Perception, spatial reasoning and  
This,  
Assemblage and dissemination  
Of language  
Is generated and  
Projected  
Into this  
White  
Room,  
No more  
Or less  
Real  
&  
True,  
Than that which  
You  
And I,  
Now,  
In this instance,  
Cohabitate  
 
Imagine that  
 
Eyes which hold the light  
Hostage  
Descend  
Upon your Jovian  
Gravity well  
A thousand words  
Assemble  
Into  
A framework  
Mosaic        
 
Come closer  
Embrace me  
Burn to cinders  
In my hands  
 
..  
 
Chapter 4.  
Swathed in scales of a moonless night’s seduction,  
 
I drive to the beach, to  
Breathe in  
The expansive  
Darkness, which  
Lack of both human and natural  
Edifice and growth  
Lays the earth’s  
Breast  
Bare  
 
Seabirds peck the  
Ground, between intervals of  
Their charmingly  
Comical  
Gait  
 
Dark clouds  
Crown  
The horizon, in a  
Momentarily glimpsed  
Pantheon, as lightning  
Arcs it’s crooked  
Fingers across the  
Length and  
Breadth  
Of this  
Merciless  
Church,  
This  
Effluvial  
Coliseum  
 
Left my shoes  
And socks  
In the car,  
Toes grip the  
Rough hewn  
Sands,  
Strewn with pearlescent  
Fragments of  
Seashell  
 
Surf rolls and pounds its  
Hoary  
Wrath,  
Its tidal arm  
Crushing the shore  
Beneath the salt  
Bath, of its hard  
Hands, before  
It slinks upon its  
Haunches in  
Hissing  
Retreat  
 
I raise my chin,  
Hands,  
Arms  
Outstretched into a  
Horizontal  
Plane, palms  
Up to catch the  
Subtle droplets of  
Rain,  
Falling in a hazy,  
Soporific  
Mist  
 
Look,  
Come and see,  
My luminous  
Scales, a pleated  
Mirror, refracting  
Refulgent  
Levin  
Light  
 
See how ugly beautiful  
I manifest  
 
Sand. Surf. Self.  
 
I was all encroaching,  
Penumbral  
Silence,  
Shadow  
Stretched  
Across the length  
And breadth  
Of the white  
Room  
 
I was calm  
And truth  
Was life itself  
 
..  
 
Chapter 5.  
Now the wings are mine,  
 
Summation:  
In this life, which we are  
Momentarily  
Gifted,  
There are many  
Dull repetitions of  
Routine, what I had earlier  
Defined as, simple  
Homeostatic  
Maintenance, a backdrop and  
Foundation for events that  
Imbue  
Quality,  
Into being  
And yet,  
Even these,  
When viewed with  
The clarity of  
Full presence,  
Are the essence  
Of sensate  
Being  
 
Experiences that  
Inspire  
Substantive  
Thought  
And emotion,  
Inalienable,  
One,  
From another  
 
Experiences that inspire  
Relativity  
&  
Relationships  
To others and  
Overarching concepts  
Of form  
And transformation, which  
Are the static and dynamic  
Realities, upon which translation of  
Experience  
Into reasoning  
Discourse  
Are predicated  
 
Life is  
Earmarked  
In its  
Details,  
In its details, is found  
The intimacy,  
In its intimacy, is  
Discovered  
The emotional core of sentient  
Being  
Is not in dry, rational  
Dualistic,  
Subjective/  
Objective  
Aristotelian bifurcation  
Or  
Cartesian gravity,  
As taught by  
Dry, dusty  
Ancient  
Tomes, it  
Lives  
In the now  
In the blood  
Gall and liver,  
Spleen and stomach  
And heart of organic  
Sentience, which cannot be  
Divorced from the torrents and  
Ebbs  
Of emotion  
And attempts at  
Such  
Have only damaged our  
Hierarchy of  
Cognizance  
And dissemination  
Of foundational thought and  
Practice, which must,  
Of its nature,  
Be considered  
In the fullness  
Of its intrinsic,  
Inseparable  
Relationship  
Between reflective  
Reason  
And dynamic emotion  
 
..  
 
Chapter 6.  
A concatenation of thunders,  
 
(Let’s close with a tight  
Spotlight, upon  
A revelation  
Of form)  
 
Her hair in splayed  
Tangles,  
Splashed across my  
Chest  
 
First,  
This lost art,  
This intimate contest  
 
I, beneath your  
Threadbare  
Tremble  
A woven  
Galaxy  
Throwing off  
Breaths and  
Spirals  
 
I, your mendicant  
And then  
Arisen  
In  
Transformation  
Unblinking through the  
Inferno that  
Pours  
From my  
Maw  
 
How perfectly clear, those  
Twin  
Saucers  
Of quiet regard  
 
How dauntless  
 
Her breaths  
Are chapters  
Of ash  
 
Sibyl  
Of undisclosed  
Lamentation  
Amidst the rising channels of  
Vapors  
And cryptic utterances  
Of sooth  
 
Willows  
Wisps  
Whispers  
 
Pursed  
Lips  
Drink from the veins  
Of this  
Unfurling  
Thesis  
 
My tail  
Of spikes  
And  
Sinews  
Curled  
About her  
Bespangled  
Ankles  
 
Marveling  
As I lay,  
Beggarly,  
Before  
 
This  
Oscillating  
Energetic  
Cosmos  
 
This perfect  
Unassailable  
Design  
 
I yield the floor.  
 
Sincerely,  
 
..  
 
O Fílos Sou, o Drákos  
By  
Daniel Christensen  
Writing as  
🐲  
 
..  
 
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." Confucius