Sestina After B Carlisle – by Stuart Barnes
WINNER OF THE GWEN HARWOOD POETRY PRIZE 2022
My dying friend maintains Heaven
hallows only one queen. ‘Hell is
just around the corner, like a
gaudy shopping centre, a place
of no rest day nor night. Hot on
my heels, the Devil’s moving earth
and heaven to drag me from Earth—
say yes to drag!—to his heaven,
where KS-coloured light grows on
devilwood and angel dust is
pain’s composer. Can’t you feel Place
de la Concorde’s wings shudder? A
Gabriel created it. A
wild Gabriel comes to me—Earth
doesn’t know where to turn; I place
bets on Red. Do you want Heaven
or Las Vegas? he trumpets. Fizz
of feathers. Tell the tycoon on
high, I wave, to leave a light on—
and that I never wanted a
rich man. The syndrome my soul is
bedevilled by was sent to Earth
by the consuming fire of Heav’n.
Syndrome, from Greek syndromos, place
where several roads meet. God, my place
concatenates multitudes. John
Waters’ Divine endorsed Heaven,
but my whitish tongue arrows a
Fuck you very much! to God. Earth
turns swords into ploughshares. Gee whiz,
I’m not good to go—hold my vis-
à-vis with the Valet de Place—
hold his runaway horses. Earth—
glorious! It’ll go-go on.
Have I ever told you I’m A
neg? God, blood enraptures Heaven.’
On Vespas my dying friend is
a daredevil, gold as Heaven
Scent’s placets, summer rain, shared earth.
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Note: ‘no rest day nor night’ is from Rev. 14:11, ‘consuming fire’ is from Heb. 12:29, ‘from Greek syndromos, place where several roads meet’ is from etymonline.com, ‘Fuck you very much’ was Divine’s signature line
Image: Ludovica Dri
This poem appeared in Island 164 in 2022. Order a print issue here.
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