Untitled 05

The Art of David Wiley

Celebrations in Sutro Park
In the days of the Dazzling Vision
in the days of the rainbow-bodied arhat
in the days of Gerenuk
and his many vows
never to sleep again
sometimes the circus
was really in town
 
as if the skyline of Xanadu
borne upon clouds from the Orient
had made a visit to the City
and decided to stay there
hovering over the bay
where we could examine at leisure
its towers its caves its minarets
 
as if Hera herself had come
with her cow
her peacock and her lion
and ordered us to make sacrifices:
twenty draughts of wind to Dionysus
fifty dragon's teeth in the form of turnips
planted in the ground for Cadmus
a marathon dance
naked under the full moon
a round of clapping
for the seals on the rock
who might be the children of Poseidon
a choral response
to the cries of ecstasy
rising up from Winterland:
WE ARE THE GRATEFUL DEAD!
And the blood of the goat
and the blood of the plum
given freely to Europa
 
as if we were satyrs and nymphs
hiding among the rocks
behind the ferns and bamboo stands
flickering through the forest
between the shadows and light
climbing and swinging
running and burrowing everywhere
like the entire menagerie
that we knew we were hair flowing
nails growing
the music of the earth and stars
heating though our veins
as if by accident of Nature
we had discovered a way
to bring history and legend alive
and let them perform for us
while we sat and laughed
and sometimes applauded:
"There goes old Sigismondo Malatesta
plotting his own torture. Cheers!"
 
"There is the wedding of Jason and Medea.
Good luck, you two!"
"Hooray Vercingetorix!
Moping on his dolmen."
"Eureka! Thales. You are right.
Everything is water."
 
as if mud were rocks
and rocks were flowers
flowers the sun
and the sun was something
we could sit and stare at
for the first time in our lives
 
as if the fruit we ate
would become a universe within us
and we could explore it
light year by light year
with our packs on our backs
and maybe a walking stick
for comfort
 
as if the traffic down below
the concrete and machinery
were insects
ants and tics
lurching along
on the body electric
and all those playthings
and that hubbub
could easily be swept into the sea
and forgotten forever
 
as if for once
the music was music
nothing else
and the garrulous nasturtiums
that lined our pathways
were revelers at a Mardi Gras
and all the devils
that carry us along
on our routines
like a colony of parasites
had failed to wake:
or more
the metromegalomaniacropolis
rising collectively to brush its teeth
no more identification cards
(we know who we are are)
no more vacuum cleaners
busily sucking up the remnants of souls
no more sirens whistles buzzers
and clockwork signals
to tell us
to start stop wait
or run for our lives
no more newspaper reality
no factory sandwiches
no more handcuffs
in the middle of the night
for escapist dreaming
and keeping the wrong baking soda
in the back of the cupboard
no more electronic paper giants
waiting patiently to eat our minds
and spit out the last few
indigestible thoughts
no more numbers over the doorway
no more photographs of dirty socks
no more….
 
knowing that the beautiful
is as useful
as the useful
knowing that God
did not create the universe
in order to provide a job
for Himself
we have come to this place to find the world
in a snail track
or a pine cone
and eternity
in the wink of an eye
 
as if the miles of living
we have wrapped around ourselves
might make a play
with smells and music
on a stage where every color
knows itself
the blueness of the sky
the greenness of the leaves
the whiteness of the crashing wars
and every voice tells us what it is
the barking seals
the chirping birds
the girl singing her poetry
the explosion of water
upon the rocks
 
as if we had known
the birth and death of the sun
the histories of planets
come and gone
the laughter that reaches
to the edge of the cosmos
the impossible closeness of bodies
hearts twined like a rope
reaching to the moon
the absence of gravity
the million colors of a single hair
as if it were all
there was nothing more
as if everything
that had ever happened
happened here
and so it was
and so it did.