Jody Forrester

posted 6.7.99

BLACK SAILS

Fancy myself, sometimes,
The Irish Queen of the Sidhe,
The Fey Folk,
Dark of hair and limb, and darkeyed, as well,
Like She was. What a fool I am.
Fey and fey, the Irish.
I try not to remember that the stories do not end well,
That they do not end like the stories we now call Fairy Tales,
Which end happily
Ever after, and become Disney feature films.
I try not to remember that the old tales do not end
That way.
They end with black sails.
Iseult, was it so, for you?
With your man of heroic sadness,
When you both belonged to others, in life,
But to each other only
In truth?
The stories of the Irish do not end well. Not at all well.
Like the songs, like the pipes calling,
They merely end.
Death is the only bond they recognize.
I would have that bond in life, rather.
But we are too damned Irish.
We believe in the old magic, And see black sails,
And horizons couched in tragedy.
Play out the prophesy
And seek the romance
Of unrequited love
And tired circumstance,
You fool.
It will appease your fey nature, while you make Irish magic.
All your romantic posturing, Fairy Queen,
Will buy you nothing but black sails
Out of your loyalty
To the old ways and sad songs,
In the end.
All because you never believed
In all that Cinderella bullshit,
But rather chose to play
Morgan le Fay
Gwenhywahr
Iseult of the White Hands.
Tell me, did those women
Look like they were winning?
No charming prince for you
NO, you chose
The sad harper.
So, here is your romance.
Beautifully tragic, isn't it?
Now that you know?
You may meet each other's eyes
Hopelessly, across crowded rooms,
And satisfy your fey Irish souls
With that.
Those tales do not end well, not
For women skilled in herblore
Or for sad minstrels.
I trust that this
Will be enough pathos
Even for you
Damn your Irish eyes.


BORDERLANDS

Awake, and dream your dreams in chains
Forged by your own hand.
Look out on forty days of rain.
Oh, yes, I understand.
I'm standing at the gallows tree,
I laugh as if I'm sane,
But I have walked the Borderlands
Through forty days of rain.
I'm standing where the two roads meet,
Just as I had planned,
Waiting for the GateKeeper
Here in the Borderlands.

Did you hear the laughing Fates
The day I tipped my hand
And showed the aces and the eights?
Oh, yes, I understand,
Now that they've explained to me
The rule that clearly states
You enter in the Borderlands,
With aces and with eights.
I'm holding to a promise made
The day I took a stand
And called upon the FateMaster
Here in the Borderlands.

For once, I fell upon my sword,
Oh, noble lady-grand,
And I've come into my reward.
Oh, yes, I understand
That such a fine self-sacrifice
Could be termed worse than vain.
It brought you to the borderlands
Through forty days of rain.
It's me who haunts the ramparts of
Your castle made of sand
While we await the TricksterKing
Here in the Borderlands.

Sleep, my love, and dream a dream
I wrote with my own hand
Using words you'd like to scream.
Oh, yes, I understand.
I'm holding up the Looking-glass.
Whose face is it you see?
Cross over to the Borderlands,
To you, looking like me.
You're standing where the two roads meet.
You've come to understand
That Love's as blind as Justice
Here in the Borderlands.

posted 3.4.99

MONSTERS (FOR FRANK AND OTHER INCARNATIONS)

Who is responsible
For the misdeeds
Of the monster?
Creation
Or Creator?

If there is blame,
Perhaps we should share it,
You and I,
For what we have made.
For what we have been.

Why do I make
What I must destroy?
What must destroy me?

I have sympathy
For monsters
And for those
Who make them
If there is a difference.

Monsters do what I dream,
And I dream of them
Often.

My monsters,
Do they dream?
Of life?
Of love?
Do monsters
Dream
of me?


CAT

The Stuffed Man
Sees the sun rise
Sees the sun set
The Turncoat
Many Turnings
Till December
(He says nothing)
Burn him
In the garden
At Midsummer
If he hasn't
Shared his secret
By then.

The Cat is
Seldom silent
Smiling villain
What he says
Is not all of
What he means
(Makes me wonder)
Find him
On a mission
In the roses
Where he told me
He would be, but
Not when.

The Knight's been
Back to Knightsbridge
But not lately
The Cat said
You might catch him
If you hurry
(He keeps moving)
Catch him
Coming soon
To the Roxy
If he doesn't
Call his agent
To complain.

Tell me
What the hell you
Want with me
I never
Said I wanted
To be
The one who
Knows these secrets
About you.
I don't care.
I don't care.
Will you let me sleep?
Here, take these and call me in the morning.
Will you remember?
Remember.
I do.
What the hell
Do you want with me
Anyway?


CONGO

What did you see, when you went
There
After the Doctor measured your head
And could not tell you
Why

Who were you, when you were
Elsewhere
Elseone
Did you return
Changed
Did you return

Was it hot there
Were there snakes
Do you hear them before they strike, or
Are they silent
Do you see them, or are they
Invisible
Do they stalk, or
Wait
Were there cannibals

Did you return with
Unnatural appetites
Or do you eat
Chicken
Just like
Everyone
Else


© 1999 Jody Forrester