[Critique Group 2] Joan for September

[Joan Myles]

Once
by Joan Myles

Once I had friends like Job’s

who peered at me through a tangle of seaweed

as I paddled along trailing the mist

they dumped me overboard for a lark

watched the big fish swallow me whole

the big fish hungry for Jesus

and when he spit me out

like Beethoven’s fifth they drained my spine

until I screamed at the rocks clattering inside my skull

once I had friends like Job’s

Who measured my howling birdsong

against their own treasure of pain and pleasure

Who watched my dancing bear shadows

pirouette at the edge of  Walt’s grass

they observed me paralyzed on the sofa

they observed me walking between wheelchairs

they observed me running flat into walls

they observed me chanting Juarroz to Heaven

once I had friends like Job’s

weaving honey webs between their teeth

as they tracked mud through my Left Bank

they shattered my bones with their affection

they cleansed my throat of individuality

they deafened my silence and silenced my soul

they purged my spirit of Spirit

amid the clamor of their glamor

despite the beauty of their duty

and once I was stripped  clean as iodine

once there was room again to breathe

I heard the cock crowing
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