1
Wyh do we udnersntad a txet eevn fi the letetrs
aer in dsiordre
*
The letter A
like a membrane
melliferous the animal flesh
bread baking butchery
Alphabet of blood and ash
Litanie incantation
from the back part of her throat
salt for the stew salt
for the bread
Sings the poet maudite
When I in my youth
strolled in a blue wool dress
I strolled in a circle
of blue
2
The reading brain the eyes moving constantly
while reading
*
The letter B
when black letters of fire
patterns of animus across
the landscape
The place in the distance
Where the air
smells of poisoned rain
take one step after
the other
Where you do not want to go
An amalgam of words
in sequential order here where
you walk ahead stop
raise your eyes
3
We identify only ten or twelve letters quick jumps
three or four letters left and seven or eight letters right
*
The letter C circles
zigzags animates the plaster
death cast a solitary
workwoman then
From the back part of her throat
When I in my youth in a blue wool dress
I strolled among maidens monks
and birds I strolled in wind
cold and heat
Across green volcanic hills
There In shadows haze smoke
in three dimensional space
piles of charred human
and animal bones
4
The history of the neurology of reading
the existence of a visual center
*
The letter D whispered
in the dismal quarter where
absence of a picture the green
volcanic hills
Grain grape bread wine
The story of the shepherdess
staged and scripted sub-plots there
in a bucolic setting our lady grows
out of a mound of dirt
Her rose-bud mouth a crooked line
A breast vein as thick as a finger
the wedding feast bread and meat
yellow sulfurous a plume
of smoke
5
Some written words lit up or hidden among
geometric forms
*
The letter E
elaborate the graphic design
chasms and fissures
in the earth
Our lady grows out of rotting meat
Sings the poet maudite
I in my youth concealed and disguised
walked in three dimensional
space
Heat cold wind water
Data science
pain fear phobia multimedia
exhibitions photographic art illustrations
the ritual of baking bread
6
Yeast spores are ubiquitous in air and on
the surface of grain
*
The letter F
the preserved body rotates forms
sweet bacteria then the skin
of the fingertips
Chemical molecular where
In a circle they joined hands
ruiners and destroyers engulf and consume
victims and executioners ooze out
the urge
Staged and scripted sub-plots
Genesis to revelation
in elaborate letters shift twist and slant
disease famine torture war
earth air fire water
7
Everything begins in the retina
ten years of research on the reading brain
*
The letter G a graphic design
sight touch listen the sound
of grinding corn the smell
of bread baking
Then she brews tea over a fire
There in reddish violet light
violet light a jagged black line zigzags
a graphic design the head covered
with a hood
identity unknown tree rope grain
The air smells of smoked meat
his mouth waters taste buds pulsate
from a gap a fissure
a flow of hormonal forces
Copyright © 2017 by Rochelle Owens. This poem originally appeared in Jacket 2. Used with permission of the author.