The Alchemist
Contents
Stitch Figures The Altruistic Donor Brittle Gumbo Fever Wishbone Seedling Mortal Terrors The Spinster Burning the Midnight Honey Madness
Stitch1
A ripple displaces her face from Heaven, thicket of plastic ferments with a leaven decay of beetles as black shadows twitch thread across her lips in a blanket stitch. Blues glared up at him through a distant Heaven; the soul frustrates patience for bodily replevin, ensnared in weeds hides her uncured flitch. A ripple displaces her face from Heaven. Shrapnel of abandoned bottles gouges eleven wounds yet to be stitched; the beetles must be forgiven. They've misjudged the day in a haste to unhitch their gear but it won't be long till idle fingers twitch and play forget-me-not. Tomorrow: still seven. A ripple displaces her face from Heaven.
1
Poetic form: Contemporary Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: air.
Figures2
Twist the diamond from its acrostic code,flingthecausticbeefling zirconium and stain coats deep red in order to hide the bee's sting, keep thread close by and follow the descending node as it slivers an orbit and corrodes charred moons that'll crumble on each count of zed; listen to natters of insects that fled when the man laughedasitsliveredscorchinganemblemand preceded to goad the torch into an early requiem, scorching flesh to produce an acerbic taste that will rattle ethics and condemn the apple poisoned by monocarpic intent, the caustic sloth seeks his emblem only to idolise the anarchic. Only to sting.
2
Poetic form: Petrarchan Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: blood.
The Altruistic Donor3
Blood clots and begs a revival; within this region a nival moonbeam sparks icy storms of dissent. My motivation once well-meant shadowed by euphemistic terms. Altruistic will repulse worms hidden in the legal jargon. How can others seek to bargain? Splatter bone and blood on paper and let loose this selfless caper. Ethics deters the brave with snorts sent to heckle a rosy quartz. Come with the next Armageddon and we shall glaze years with resin.
3
Poetic form: Cyhydedd Fer (Sonnet). Alchemy symbol: salt.
Brittle4
Brittle promises haze this disgraced lark with glorified patriotism that creeps as idle bodies flinch when the embers smart; please, scream with each crack of the whip that reaps dead threats against our smoke; pluck those botany whorls above our sacred circle with loose flesh stained maple green, caress soft supple curls of smeared youth who cry war and enmesh those stragglers who've tittered with Logan, watch- they will shift with anticipated shudders and try to run through the molten showers that are set to kill, dissipated and weary they will stalk through that tunnel, spooking at dusk they'll bullet like gunnel.
4
Poetic form: Shakespearian Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: day.
Gumbo5
Please do scream as leather sluggishly grinds flesh to bone, suck in that worn smell of oil riled down until hands pass the tesla coil, resile the larceny when deft hands winds down emancipation as hands scoop rinds with silver asking has the gumbo soil mesmerized and become waxy in the broil of his back-door science, sore he reminds his peers of drooling gospel electric for the grasping hands of strict vacuous housewives who proclaim life with fatuous expressions, watch piezoelectric vibrations rattle those innocuous remarks that force the hand of the sceptic.
5
Poetic form: Petrarchan Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: life.
Fever6
Acrimonious fever unsettles Queen Anne's vintage lace as carrot sweetness urinates and strings dropsy in trebles along chaste thighs, please crust a resinous rosin as skin begins its osseous evolution that bounds flesh with threaded gold to mark the miles of candid venus insects, craft them from spares in a tepid stew with a pinch of heart roughly shredded, atone the moon with gilded promises, umbel borne through the white fetid realism that exist to rain blemishes evenly over shrouds guised with Hemlock, meteorites rain conflict to a deadlock.
6
Poetic form: Spenserian Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: gold.
Wishbone7
There is something this bed is smaller
most spectacularly wrong; than my own.
Worn organs hide aghast at her wishbone and its shyness nudges a bitter-long smear of faded lips that crackle rusted love songs. Throw your stone and make a mess of me. Fibrous dysplasia of bone forces smocked cotton down to thong; and that voice of suckered frowns incenses a new panic at light; her hand on my thigh freezes. Humility beckons a rash pretence, but pride sneezes away that additional expense; Enamelled bullets splinter as a dying organ wheezes.
7
Poetic form: Petrarchan Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: arsenic.
Seedling8
Argyria flitters silvered dust over readied clouds punctured by nitrate to seal gangrenous wounds that pastiche the clover; expand hopes for lunacy and repeal nightly studies that reduce lunar and steal tenacious sights, let the perished repose under antique engines that scatter a squeal, membrane this metal, seek to juxapose seeded hope that had just recently froze evangelion and replaced it with evening blooms that will open at the close, draw the bath and pluck that silver spooned myth eastward towards the speckled tide that roils dolphins to Gysglyd Cove; rupture the spoils.
8
Poetic form: Spenserian Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: silver.
Mortal Terrors9
Pain transcends grasped knuckles begging for an oblivion, ugly luck scatters eight legged brothers as remnants of crushed pecan nostalgia tarnishes the intrepid masks of swollen faces that they once loved; Break bones amongst the splinters of coffins, I must have been in a dream when I shoved you through the door, demanding the boffins explain my actions. Too far gone in slumber that I exist to pull thorns from chaos, they spindled over kinsmen as lumber crafts their bones; hush distress as Amos prophecises gold with a weary heart, neglect reality and let it smart.
9
Poetic form: Shakespearian Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: night.
The Spinster10
Arms crossed like a body fixed after death. Summer has melted with its suckling honey; is marriage a charm that cannot break? I shrug a breath. Love and marriage are easily bought out of. Money, it makes the world go round. My arms are papery, worn, fingers bruise veins that rage against aching forearms. Cheap perfume snuggles in my arms. I wish her gone; I am not of this world: I buzz eyes with grieving charms, dance tartan promises into charred skin. The night is still young. Virtue has fled, leaving an imprint on my pillow. It is not mine. It belongs to her, sun-starved and stung; Feathered silk reduced to promises that billow summer's heat, grit saps teeth that long to taste a sugared swarm; but I must remain curdling on an ageing hob; barely ever warm.
10
Poetic form: Spenserian Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: vinegar.
Burning the Midnight Honey11
Crumple stars upon
a weary blackness as tears drop upon sour cheeks whilst the bees sting, lets reveal this witching hour sadness; lark hums candied arias and teases distant memories of dances of activity. Remember: blooms in the night are fleeting and sour; bees that drink poisoned honey do so from passivity, the nectar reflects a nightingale's flower. Beware sour curves on wet paper, the bee stings the tunes of enthused youth and crumples flowers with ivy cages, keys splash nectar eyes with the lark's truth. The silvered bee heckles youths remarks; whilst the nightingale rages against morning's sour lark.
11
Poetic form: Shakespearian Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: earth.
Madness12
A distinct madness has snagged me today. I seized it and dipped a hand into its gore, lets huddle and listen to its sickening decay. You arrived; braying for me to delay my retreat, but I spat aside our rapport. Spittle gum fills crevices that we deplore; lost in the netted shoals my mind will fray up there with the seagulls above the shore, A distinct madness has snagged me today. Tell the painter not to lead the sun astray, break bones until you reveal an opal core, sizzle the barbecue with our salt bouquet, A distinct madness has snagged me today, lets huddle and listen to its sickening decay.
12
Poetic form: Contemporary Sonnet. Alchemy symbol: hour.
Afterword The Alchemist includes familiar poems that have been reworked into the sonnet form. There are fourteen poems in this pamphlet: a poem for each line of the sonnet form. I decided to use five variations of sonnet: Contemporary, Cyhydedd Fer, Petrarchan, Shakespearian and Spenserian. The changing rhythm of the pamphlet prevents readers from being able to settle into the writing. I wanted the poetry within this pamphlet to exist firmly in a dreamlike state and for the reader to be aware of this: they should be fighting to get out of this world and not further into it. The work does not adhere to many reader's expectations- the use of alchemy symbols as a poetic form makes a natural reading of the pamphlet difficult. The use of language is deliberately pretentious. Everything about this pamphlet forces the reader to concentrate exactly on what is being said. The short sentences of lucidity that occur between the lines of the invasive language enables the reader to feel their way into the main themes of the work. The messages within the poems and their influences are inspired by simple concepts. For example, Seeding discusses our impact upon nature; Gumbo takes its influences from ice-pick lobotomies and explores the relationship that existed between the operation and American housewives during the 1900s; and the use of Ariel illustrates childhood innocence and those wishing to destroy it. The pamphlet seeks to discover how relationships work and it does this by focusing on how intimacy thrives within chaos. This pamphlet takes the dreaming aspect of my work to another level and drowns in its horror without actually being aware of the reality that is fuelling it. The figures in my childhood dreams play a large role in my life. I regularly have the same dream of a gaunt figure who stares at me from the top of my stairs. As a child these figures disturbed me but as I grew up I learned to exist alongside them and, for a time, became reliant on their presence; sometimes monsters can be a source of great comfort. The Alchemist is both inexplicable and familiar as it explores these nocturnal worlds. It does not try to make sense of them but submerges itself into the bizarre and unsettling images, letting the events unfurl, safe in the knowledge that all nightmares eventually come to an end. Copyright Š of Miss Rhea Seren Phillips [2017]