Gunpowder as a Prophylaxis of Sepsis

This admixture is not what they thought of,
not the crowning seraphim in gold arrayed,
not even the fertile resistance blessing their pikestaffs
with mistletoe silence, fresh-baked delights and
pie-crusted silhouettes for the hungry dusk shades

but it might be for the best, nevertheless,
to type like this
knowing the desire to channel wisdom,
to cruise the headshapes of poetry in verby thrusts
(so well forged)
an undergrowth of blacksmiths in digital repose

so that now, turning and broken up,
poisoners shiver from the tap-roots
upwelling in three-gendered slurries
hoping for sulphur, saltpetre and nitre
to curb the thirsty fireflies in the blood

ungodly and bursting with animal heat should we fever
the brow of the alchemist more?
Should we pry into strands of Gaian homeopathy,
knowing the red stain that masks the black sun?

When he takes up the cup to his lips, tasting our end,
shall the molten lies bring tear-milk to his eyes?



kh
11.1.07

Image: "The Invention of Gunpowder," an intaglio print from 1988 by Ray Must