414
appears the first altar
welcoming me.
CAROLE KOHANIM
Instead of a Cross is a Roman couch
painted on a Roman wall. And dancing about
are the white silk sleeves
of a Princess's gown. Her prince is bending down.
(me in the corner· damp and young
Stung by the resentment eyes of a Universe
of Two)
The second altar calls me in
- Come about and join to worship
Within the curlicues
airy
wood
Sounds an organ darkened wine-red
(Glimpses above and below
of soundless mahogany locked
into madness)
So to the third I muffling step
- Beckoned only by elegant black
Table holding in graceful hands
an Orange with veins protruding out
from pins
growing deep within
its Orange heart
For Christ's Sake! Let me out
I turn to flee the impossible
The joy of two the sound locked in,
The fruit that rips and scratches
my throat
Soldered and welded the bars create
Black splintered diamonds
- the iron lines ot my cage.
"Now do you have an answer?" Michelle asked after I'd read it.
But I didn't. I really didn't know what to say. I told Michelle to
explain to Melanie that I would have a reply for her tomorrow,
and
I left Michelle at the gate.
May the fifteenth
When I woke up
this
morning I felt
in
a panic. I felt like every–
thing was closing in. Mter lunch I asked the orderly from Haiti for
a coat hanger. I took it and wound it all around the metal grating
in
front of my window. I felt like someone was pushing in. I knew
I must ask for Divine Guidance and I meditated for a long time
