Put the Load on Me
By Nick Flynn
Here, at
your feet, all the gargoyles of heaven—
kneel upon your furnace, their tongues
worship you. You can love only one, the one
you rest your hand upon, his head so
sharp, his sulphur breath...Even now a saint
makes his way up your steps, on his
knees he is coming, he will find you,
with his sword he will kill the beasts, all of them—
he swears this will save you.
•
Earlier, a deer stood by the side of the road
deciding whether or not to kill me. I cannot
blame her, I cannot blame anyone—many
animals were hurt in the production of this book
just as many trees were hurt & all
the clouds. Open any book
& the cloud above you bursts into
flame, you know this & yet nothing
stops you, the sky stuck to the end of your finger
as you point to it.
•
This is how it works—the master does not
bow before his servant, he does not
stand naked before her robes, his hands
are empty yet he does not offer—
not even a cupful—of his emptiness,
how could he? How could
the world then keep spinning? He made his money
(as they say) the old-fashioned way, meaning
he earned it, meaning slaves, meaning
go fuck yourself.
•
Geometry deals with properties of space. Figs
(a "multiple fruit") are like strawberries
only inside out—its skin is
a receptacle. Saint Francis didn't eat
for forty days, until his body erupted & now
we call it ecstasy. Years later
Frankenstein found a way
to raise the dead. Friend, his creation
mutters, flower.
•
A storm will come the radio says find a ditch
& lie facedown in it. Find your ditch & lie
facedown & pray we will all lie down
& pray after all there's only so many places
to hide. We all need help the land is vast
& dense & full of eyes & so many flowers the soil
inside us is darker than oil lie down in it
& pray.
•
Remember: it's not that everything has to look like
something else, or even remind you
of something else—everything
is something else. This is the story
we've been telling ourselves
since we could speak. Possess
nothing, Francis says. Do good
everywhere. No one believes
those wings will lift you.
Copyright Credit: Nick Flynn, "Put the Load On Me" from My Feelings. Copyright © 2015 by Nick Flynn. Reprinted by permission of Graywolf Press.
Source: My Feelings (Graywolf Press, 2015)