In Plain View (from The Songs Of The Erinnyes, Sonnets, Odes, and Elegies by Jay Noya, Brigantium Press)

1

It’s always another time and it’s gone
Because you weren’t expecting it because it couldn’t be
But it was already the other time
It was already gone and you glared back
And there might’ve been anger in your eyes
As there was certain to be anger in your heart
It goes round and round inside your head
A testimony to what you wondered
A testimony to everything you shan’t ever have and own
A testimony to everything you shan’t experience and see
It goes round and round inside your skull
And it’s okay if you hazard a guess
As to whether or not it’ll be there still when you’re dead
And your skull is fleshless and its eyeballs are gone
And the brain has liquefied and trickled out of it
What will be going round and round it then?
This is no simpleton’s plea put forth in vain
It’s no plea addressed and shouted in the dark
At nothing and no one and for no good reason
Other than one’s had too much to drink
Other than one’s lost the way to a woman’s heart
And because one’s lost the way to the rest of her

2

I did what I did in plain view
And what witnesses there were
Saw what they saw because they couldn’t look away
They wouldn’t turn away
It cost them nothing to linger and watch the show
That’s how it was that I came to be there
Doing and saying what I was doing and saying
In plain view for one and sundry to watch and describe afterwards
All the while I was convinced that it’s always
Another time and it’s over and erased for good
Erased and never to be seen
But others watched what I did
It was apparently resented and some shouted
And threatened me and insisted I couldn’t say
And do what I was saying and doing
That it was immoral and certainly uncivil
That it was madness to see what other couldn’t see
That it was a repudiation of reason and truth
To persist on saying what others can’t or won’t say
And will or won’t there be a day of reckoning
It’s a dance that takes hours and takes decades
It’s a lubricated plea strapped and knotted
About Saint Augustine’s head
And the mob clamors for the lynching
Knowing that it’s inevitable
Knowing that it’s been inevitable since Wednesday last


© J.Noya 2006

A No Good Road To Be On (from The Songs Of The Erinnyes, Sonnets, Odes, and Elegies by Jay Noya, Brigantium Press)

1

Somebody save me
Somebody listen to this
It’s morning and it’s dusk now
It’s evening suddenly and now it’s morning again
Somebody keep an eye on things for me
This road I’m on is keeping me from getting anywhere
It’s keeping me from reaching any type of destination
It’s not petulance and it’s not hubris
I ain’t procrastinating or nothing
But I ain’t getting anywhere not on this here road
I ain’t getting anywhere on this skyless road
Wherever this road is taking me
I shan’t name the place when I reach it

2

Who’s behind that tree?
Who’s whistling in the cove?
I’m listening from the edge of the bluff
And I can’t see anything other than the sea and the rocks
Who’s that singing and dancing in my dreams?
Somebody save me
Somebody save me from this swelling heart
Somebody save me from my eyes
Somebody save me from my limbs and head
Somebody murder me
Somebody cut and tear into my chest
And pluck out my heart
And burn the rest of me
Burn me behind that tree to the west yonder
That tree back there I mean ain’t got a name
It’s the tree back there yonder to the west
If you eat my heart and burn the rest of me
I’m certain the tree shall keep the secret
It’ll keep me hidden and I’ll quit yearning for tomorrows
I’ll quit yearning for love
I’ll quit yearning for words in the night
I’ll quit yearning for words when I slip into the sea
And a good roaring fire shall keep me from prying eyes

3

Somebody murder me and save me
From the tomorrows of tremulous violet skies
I preferred it when there was the equivalent of a choice
The equivalency being its replacement and the end of possibilities
I preferred the past when it lengthened into darkness
I preferred yesterdays that turned into mercury under my eyes
Somebody murder me and save me from recollecting
What I’ve heard and seen along this no good road
It’s a no good road with changing faces and changing days
It’s a no good road to be on
It’ll lead to neither a memorable nor known destination
It’s a no good road to be on
There aren’t any more days or years or anything to mark it by
This is a no good road to be on


© J.Noya 2006