DREAM VESSELS # 32: Alchemy FIRST DRAFT
—From a collage by Marsha Connell
The danse macabre begins on the vessel.
A ship with four eyes sinks beneath the waves.
A trireme, below the sea, and more ships.
The fish dart through galley portholes
while the sea pounds against the rocks.
Seeking the orient, explorers found fabulous wealth
in apothecaries—medicine was blended to order.
Sleeplessness, impotency, broken hearts,
gallbladder trouble, Balancing the yin and yang.
Bear hearts, tiger penises and rhino horns
crushed beneath mortar and pestle.
And thus began the transference of magic.
I can make out the sun, forest, brave warriors, gentlemen.
Something about a rice field—all written in kanji.
An abacus above the powerlines
resembles skeletons of huge beasts rising.
A double trinity of smokestacks like rockets,
or dragons, while flowers take on the flight of birds.
The amaryllis, black tulips, peonies from the Orient,
and the blood of carnations, the medicine of the ages.
A small worm tugs at the heart of the rose.
Summer 1992
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