THE WRECK OF THE GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

A man-boy takes religion

like a robe,

puts it on,

hides the man-flesh,

hides the desire

and the lust,

religion is good for that;

lets religion flow &

flood his poems,

verse another

robe to hide

desire and the lust,

but you have

to flagellate the rowdy

ones to inside

the robe, whip

desire and lust

with the spiked

language

of your own crafting,

keep them girdled;

whip them

and sprinkle them

with religion,

use the whip & verse,

& religion -

keep sprinkling it,

& thus man-boy becomes

damp with religion,

wet from the imaginary

soul to the neurons;

it pours, it gushes, religion -

a deluge of religion,

& no ark to float, he

drowns into it;

but the castaway

desire and lust

make it to the rafts

of the poetry,

escape the wreck

of the sinking Oxford Jesuit

as it goes down.

29.07.2019-20.06.2022

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