Issue 2:2 | Poetry | Chris Rosser

5 Songs
by Chris Rosser

The Great Mystery     

From: The Holy Fool, ISG, 2000

 

I tug on the threads of my soul

Unwrap the layers

of my wounded heart

I’m dying the deeper I go

Unwinding the darkest parts

Down to the core

Yearning for more than any can see

Trying to unravel, unravel, unravel the

Great Mystery

 

We unlock the myths and the fables

Untangle the holiest words

Tear at the fabric of heaven

Twist in the folds and turns

Pray from the altars

and temples and churches

From down on our knees

Trying to unravel, unravel, unravel the

Great Mystery

 

We put our own spin on creation

With every new child

and every new song

We paint on the cave and the canvas

Scratch at the poem,

chip at the stone

Search in the names

and the metaphors

Looking for what to believe

Trying to unravel, unravel,

unravel the Great Mystery

Trying to unravel, unravel,

unravel the Great Mystery

 

 

Sweet Nadya     

from: The Holy Fool, ISG, 2000

 

Moscow is burning

The colors are coming down

Revolution is turning

And scattering ashes on the ground

But far from the noise of the streets

Sweet Nadya sleeps

 

War drums are sounding

Red sirens strike at the air

Heavy boots are pounding

And paving the way to the square

But while her whole nation weeps

Sweet Nadya sleeps

 

I wouldn’t dare to wake her

She’s only six years old

No earthly force could shake her

Or take her heart of gold

 

Morning smoke is rising

There’s not a soul on the streets

As if the whole world were waiting

To see what this new day will bring

And with a smile

like some secret she keeps

Sweet Nadya sleeps

Sweet Nadya sleeps


 

 

Federico Fellini    

from: The Holy Fool, ISG, 2000

 

Federico Fellini-seven years old

Can’t wait to close his eyes

and fall asleep

The lights go down, the credits roll

The dreamer and his

swirling pictures meet

He named the posts of his bed after

Four cinema theaters in Rome

 

Federico Fellini – sketching cartoons

Grasping half-awake at

half-remembered scenes

Drawing in his book of dreams

He seems to be obsessed

with female anatomy

This proves to be of interest

To his psychoanalyst in Rome

Lai, lai, lai, lai…

 

Federico Fellini – making movies

Chasing after boyhood fantasies

The circus, the clown

the strongman, the fool

The seashore, the showgirl,

the autobiography

His films gain popularity

When condemned by

the papacy in Rome

Lai, lai, lai, lai…

 

Federico Fellini, seventy-three

Takes sleeping pills

so he can fall asleep

There’s no money in Italy

To take his latest picture

to the screen

The Academy gives him

a lifetime award

He dies in five months

in a hospital ward in Rome


 


DANCING DERVISH

from: Archaeology

 

One hand po inted up

One hand pointed down

Her in the middle I am stuck

Two feet dancing on the ground

I want to fly in the clouds

But this body

keeps weighing me down

The only balance I have found

Is to keep turning

round and round

Heaven spins in endless motion

Galaxies won’t stop

Here I am

like some dancing dervish

Whirling like a top

Worlds are turning in a trance

Particles spinning around

Heavenly bodies in a dance

A planetary merry-go-round

I have this orbit of my own

And I circle in my own space

Atoms are buzzing in my bones

It’s a dizzy state of grace

Heaven spins in endless motion

Galaxies won’t stop

Here I am

like some dancing dervish

Whirling like a top

 


ARCHAEOLOGY

from Archaeology

 

Back in my home town

Nothing seems the same

But its frozen in my memory

Like the ruins of Pompeii

I must have buried my heart

Underneath this road

It’s stuck her on Main Street

Like this lump in my throat

And it feels like archaeology

This digging up the past

Unearth another part of me

Things I never thought would last

And last and last

Here in my old high school

It’s been a lot of years

So why am I afraid

Just to walk in here

Hidden in these halls

Are artifacts and fragments of

fear

Buried and forgotten

I thought they’d disappeared

And it feels like archaeology

This digging up the past

Unearth another part of me

Things I never thought would last

And last and last

Now all my friends are gone

And my parents moved away

This town sure grew up quickly

Or so the neighbors say

There’s my old house

Just off the interstate

And a duplex in the field

Where my sisters played

And it feels like archaeology

The digging up the past

Unearth another part of me

Things I never thought would last

And last and last