GSS
Glorious Strange Summer
It was a glorious summer
we played sand games
with the strange girls of the islands
Thier bodies were ripe fruit, firm and succulent
We stared at nebulous angel dwellings
and strange signs in the sunsets
we made mad love to the dolphins
their giggling chatter was irresistible
some rode whales in the glistening waves
the mermaids rode stingrays like sea eagles
sipping tropical drinks on oceanless beaches
we hunted lizards in the desert caves
I killed the mighty dragon there
his pulsing blood
caused cactus to sprout
we drank poison like water
and pissed fire in the night
like napalm - cleansing, glorious fire
strange beasts licked our palms dry
and made lunch of our clothes
buzzing insects swarmed our groins
and oozing soars drove us too far
we bled for hours in the ocean
but the sharks found us distasteful—
had us ejected from the sea
angry Neptune scolded us
and caused our gills to wither
now our lungs see only land
for spite, we raped a sailor’s wife that night
she screamed like a siren
but then she had her way with us all
passed herself around for more
what a lonely, wretched, wanton wench she was
we lost our fins for that escapade
our new legs felt strange, but good
and walking the coast we ate sea shells
and collected carrion
we fed cheering crowds from a can
and painted rocks of pictures . . .
quiet coastal scenes
island paradise
we exchanged our vices for virtue
and began to live the new faith
stealing money from the junkies
feeding the naked
clothing the hungry
killing the strong for sport
we prayed in a drainage pipe
sang songs to an angry god
whose deaf ears were oblivious
we granted each other
sondom to our god
and cut our own keys to the kingdom
in the noon-time summer sun
religion was a strange-tasting food
it caused us to vomit living crabs
we named them each and all
living from moment to moment
we wandered in ignorant bliss
towns and harbors and life passed on by
journeys we took by night and by day
drinking with the drunkards
carousing with newly familiar strangers
we learned joy and pain
libidinous delight
one evening, bizarre scenes hailed us in a harbor
the whales were harpooning sailors
dolphins were herding the tuna
sharks were patrolling the docks
we hailed our estranged brothers of the sea
in retaliation, raped the harbormaster
he was a good roll till he died
we ate his corpse and split the scene
for that escapade, we were exiled
endless oceanless beaches, our new home
we searched for fossils in canyons
found a dinosaur who spoke
we worshipped till the monks
with their funny hats rebuked us
shedding our clothes like societal dogma
we led a naked parade through the wilderness
sang songs of praise to our childhood gods
and coupled with the peoples of the land
cops took us away for indecency
we rode in the back
to the house of detention
some cocky, jerk-off knight in blue
asked us who we were - what we knew
we claimed the fifth, then drank it
he objected to us and our ways
so we opened his narrow mind
and after the boys with badges
lay sleeping in pools of dream
we let free the criminals . . .
but changing our fickle minds,
we killed the whores
and raped the rest—
weird scenes inside a jail cell
as summer was coming to an end
we threw a bonfire party in the canyon
sacrifice of the vestal virgin to pleasure
selfish justification of hedonist dreams
that was a glorious night for all of us
we acquired serpents from under the rocks
and dueled with them
in the dancing shadows of flame
we drank the poisons of cactus nectars
and stumbled blindly to dance
coyotes attacked us in packs of six
but joined in with us instead
we raped them at midnight
—full moon, high noon
the moon was a cool, clean, smiling virgin
she washed our obscenity in innocent light
but still, our dreams turned to agony and death
a great, green, grinning demon
gave us challenge in the twilight
we drank each other’s blood
became brothers of the soul
snakes began to serenade us
from the far shore of a fiery lake
and they were singing,
“come join us, brethren!
in sinful, serpentine sanctuary
without atmosphere, there is no air
here we all get fried
in this burning vacuum Inferno!”
in the morning we awoke
and in the distance - a cry of alarm
the world died in a heartbeat
fission breeds fusion breeds death of the world
when consciousness returned, we laughed
slow, leprous death of radiation
we were still living, we had won!
we prayed for forgiveness
and truly repented our worldly ways
“welcome to the kingdom, my sons.
all is forgiven, you repented in time.
you shall not taste of death again.”
What a glorious strange summer it was!!
©David M Pitchford 1988 (2007 revision)
