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    Azure
    Azure
    Azure
    Ebook100 pages1 hour

    Azure

    By Brian Day

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This new take on Hindu mythology includes poems inspired by South Asian stories and covers the dealings of Vishnu, human avatars Rama and Krishna, and the relationship between Rama and his wife Sita. {Guernica Editions}
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGuernica
    Release dateJan 1, 2004
    ISBN9781550714425
    Azure
    Author

    Brian Day

    Brian Day is the author of Azure and Love Is Not Native to My Blood. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

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      Book preview

      Azure - Brian Day

      BRIAN DAY

      AZURE

       ESSENTIAL POETS SERIES 127

      GUERNICA

      Toronto – Buffalo – Lancaster (U.K.)

      2004  

      Contents

      Preface 7

      Masks 9

      Dark One 10

      Water-Lilies 11

      Palace of Glass 12

      Campus 13

      Jardin du Luxembourg 14

      Paris of Days 15

      Flesh of My Flesh 16

      Praying in Sport 17

      In Others’ Skin 18

      Dancing Priests 19

      Priest at the Altar 20

      The Centre Cannot Hold 21

      Mount Athos 22

      The Creation of the Goddess 23

      Alligator Pie 25

      Byzantine Museum, Corfu 26

      Extinguishing the Animals 28

      Blue Jesus 30

      The Love Between Krishna and Jesus 31

      Radha 33

      Mourning Krishna 35

      Krishna at the Mirror 37

      Shiva Nataraja 38

      Shiva and Jesus Drink Poison 39

      Shiva Dances with Krishna 41

      Krishna Speaks from the Whirlwind 43

      Vishnu, Seductive 45

      Sukanya and the Ant Man 46

      Avatar 50

      Rama and Sita 52

      I. The Birth of Rama 52

      II. Rama Wins Sita 55

      III. Sita Weds Rama 58

      IV. Rama is Banished 60

      V. The Abduction of Sita 64

      VI. Rama and Sita, Separated 67

      VII. Rama in the Monsoon Season 69

      VIII. Sita in the Garden 71

      IX. The Rain of Snakes 74

      X. Rama Looks on Sita’s Death 77

      XI. The Sacrifice of Sita 79

      XII. Rama Banishes Sita 82

      XIII. Sita in the Forest 84

      XIV. The Descent of Sita 86

      XV. Rama Redacting 89

      XVI. Rama and Sita as Vishnu and Lakshmi 91

      Notes 94

      Acknowledgements 95

      Preface

      Many of the poems in this book are based on stories from South Asia, and particularly from the Hindu tradition. A little background information may be helpful in providing some context.

      Several of the poems recount the various adventures of Vishnu, who is (with Brahma and Shiva) one of the three major gods of Hinduism, and who is often regarded primarily as the preserver or sustainer of the world. At times when life on Earth is threatened, he takes on an animal or human form (or avatar) and enters the world in order to save it. A number of the poems in this book deal with two of Vishnu’s human avatars, Rama and Krishna.

      The story of Rama is told in the Hindu epic The Ramayana (Rama’s Journey). While the Ramayana deals extensively with battles and various other matters, I have focused in the poem sequence Rama and Sita on the relationship between Rama and his wife Sita. The story of their love is traditionally told in a manner in which Rama’s actions are exemplary. His rejection and banishment of his wife are justified, and Sita docilely returns to him, patient and forgiving. I found this version difficult to accept and so have, while maintaining the major events of their story, considerably revised the motivations and characters of Rama and Sita.

      Krishna, like Rama, is traditionally portrayed with blue skin. He is, particularly in his young adulthood, presented as a figure of amorous sensuality. He is often shown playing a flute, which embodies his fluid musical eroticism and draws his devotees toward him. Although both Rama and Krishna are regarded as avatars of Vishnu, each is distinct in personality. While Rama is often seen as an exemplar of duty and discipline, Krishna is more a figure of eroticism and play.

      Some of the poems in this book may be made clearer by specific notes which will be found at the end of the volume.

      7

      Masks

      Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris

      Here the first fur is scraped from my skull,

      knots of rough grass plant the height of my forehead,

      and spikes are driven, hard blessing, into bone.

      Wisdom is splintered to the braiding of a brow,

      lips are stitched like a purse of the gods,

      and fear is taught the harsh punctures of joy.

      In the strenuous grafting of death to smooth hide,

      the face’s fruit is carefully skinned.

      The brain is left gagging and nearly still.

      Raised to unbearable temperatures of beauty,

      faces praise and beg for their own annihilation,

      their eyes slit open and blazing with awe.

      They have stalked through fields where flowers are on fire,

      been scorched by the skin of animals’ dreams,

      held the memory like coals in the soft of their mouths.

      They call me to drink from the bowl of their cheeks,

      from wood as hard and polished as water.

      From within the mask that I’ve become,

      they’re unflinchingly carving the bones of my skull,

      gouging till my face is broken, adoring,

      and I bear the markings where death is made whole.

      Dark One

      You are the smoothness of violets at dusk,

      the ache of berries for the deepening dark,

      the muscle and pull of night’s urgent river

      drawing my eyes to delicious black drowning.  

      A black rose of Sharon is my love among men,

      as delicate as eyelids the dark petals of his skin.

      You are the dark one bestowing black brilliance,  

      whose beauty soaks light from the praise of my mouth.

      You are oranges eaten sweet in the forest of the night.

      You are black like the

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