THE RELIQUARY TRANSLATIONS, 37

Birds In Warped Time……………(certain sounds)……….and highs of 5 degrees
Pavane for a Dead Princess      (as pigeons ripple…….. the Plaça de Catalunya)
(Receiving Stigmata..(with architecture))..in my thirst they gave me….vinegar
Claudia, Wilhelm R And Me……….. and Claud………. in the Jardim Botânico
seeming ……….as if walking ……………….on the water ……lilies
orange and green plastic tablecloth…. .smoking in the glass covered balcony
(if I remember correctly ……………………crimson netting ………….purple sky
like many leaves…………beneath the crusts ……..of frozen ponds)
coagulated traffic round the central square, and the shouting in the streets
of Exarcheia ………………..towards Quadrant Dub in the blue light of the ruin
(Garden Panel 1, Düsseldorf, Glisten) ……….. before Budapest found a moment
to listen …….(on the S-Bahn) …….heading backwards into swans along the sea.
(murmurations over (the burnt out collapsing (pier))) ..Postcard from Brilliant
Orange ………. ….egg yolk and withered narcissi, …….battered and bronze 
buildings at sunset, ..Gentileschi under X-ray, …temporary bodies in the hall
Rachel facing west across ………..it all …….(from the headland over St. Agnes)
knee deep sea ….and a bird ……..not moving

spending youth at the bottom of swimming pools, …………in the corner, 
scratching knuckles on the yellow mosaic ………..stepped out under the moon.
And there’s never anyone around ………….to hear it …………(1977) ………….never
anyone around …..(eating pears and leaning out the window … ..(Se telefonando
on the wind and from two doors down)) ..and I buried it ..(fresh winter garden)
avocado and salmon skin …………chanting Utopia and Visions ……..out of focus 
red and blue and pink embroidered jackets rushing past me on the beach 
red and green and laughing fields of early summer ……..(raspberry tonic wine)
along the Serpentine ……………….when we should have been …………..elsewhere
rum with Rubicon ………lychee ……………..eating melon straight from the knife 
at night the pool was lit from beneath, like quietly the engine ………left running
like waking after surgery …..(finding the room bright .. …stinging) with flowers 
Light clarity  avocado salad in the morning ….(opened bottles of Lucky Buddha
on the street sign) ………..pink and gentle rash from talking hours on the grass
like a thousand seagulls landing on the boat
soft synth arpeggios ……(looking upwards ….in airports .. and shopping centres)
like exposed copper wires of phone chargers and white …….winged ……..horses
like exposing the backs of my shoulders …………… to red winter sun
in the plane above purple glaciers …..(Joy_14) ……. granulated sugar .. in the air
Since 2016 … in pixelated streetlights ….(powders and the windows won’t open)
and the wound won’t open, sifting through pictures of years …(heavy with love)
(years … in the throes …. of love) 

THE RELIQUARY TRANSLATIONS, 38

the first hot day after lockdown (walked slowly (downhill (through the nettles
(and into the field of the bull))) ………brief monuments ….  in warm …..shades
surrounded by standing stones, …..and scarred across the eyes…. by the grasp
of floating Minoans ………..(The Sound Of Someone You Love Who’s Going Away
(And It Doesn’t Matter)) …….bleeding tongues and anchovies…. in orange juice,
broad beans and devilled sweetbreads ……….(three pints over ……..the valley) 
Under the olive trees / ……………..walking alone / …………..on the green terraces /
very seldom / ………….over the sea seldom / ………….where it ravelled and spun /
blue tapestries ………. white and green / ………..gravecloths of men /…….. Romans
and modern men / …………………….and the men of the sea
in the dry canals of mid-July, cormorants hunt for echoes under the bridge 
Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten ringing in the cloisters of the skull
the cormorant, ………….and the kittiwake, ………and the last battered sinews
of the seal carcass ……..(draped in white feathers) ………yield ……to the sun

when you were living by the Bassin de la Villette, sent me pictures of antique
lampshades, …….the cheek of a lemon, ….. and the air from Arthur’s Seat
(grainy videos ……………of blue ……………tarpaulin)
gochujang potatoes, watercolours, and the pub booked out for the wedding
birdfeeders and a soft dusting of snow in the Ramble, Narragansett, bagpipes
Multicolor Baltic winds, ……. North Face zipped up …..over sage green jumper  
covered ………the surface…………. in shiny………. butterfly……….. stickers
Slow Dance on Moss Beds, …..boiling water, …tears at the top of the stairs
through heavier snow …..now …….to the cities in distance.
acid blue dragonfly ……..before the red of the window, …..the April of 2018
a yellow plate of prawn shells, ………..we should go back ….when it’s warmer
codeine blood…..orange San……Pellegrino, ……..Grassmarket spinning (gold)
asked in the corner shop for corkscrews, ……..and sat out……in the cold.
and after many intense conversations in corners and backwards on mattresses 
and through banks of wild garlic (Divola window)  (Unloading Cargo, Bruges)
salt and sumac in strained yoghurt, ….in…….New…..and…..Ancient….Strings
Journey in Satchidananda………and The Dance No. 1…..beneath the arches 
in the Laribal Gardens,….washed my ankles….in the waters ..of the fountain
and on the front steps of white Georgian houses,    surrounded    by dogs
and over and over and over,…..and Avon collapse……(Urumea)…..(October)
For Frank O’Hara, The King of Denmark, …. and crossing the road in the rain
two yellow mornings are never the same, and the tides are never in sequence
and mournful, ……….like Goethe in Italy, …….or Pissarro …..on Sydenham Hill
and Wild Grass I…..(for Arthur Russell)…..and Wild Grass II   (for Robert Wyatt)
and Boiling Wells in the summertime,………steeping roses …in sesame….oil 
and giving ……..my rain ………..to the soil.

THE RELIQUARY TRANSLATIONS, 40

All   Life   Long ………….ikejime ………….the storm …………of the century 
the tunnel under the Rijksmuseum …… vibrating …….with glistening ..lines
concertina and hieroglyph …….and Butterfly   Effect ….and bloom
in the tunnel under the Rijksmuseum,… drifting   past cities   of ambergris,
bioluminescence, or the spire-lights of North Sea oil rigs, ……4 in the morning, 
Heisenberg in Heligoland,  and the begging waves ..of the petrochemical dawn
to see a songbird ……following,…… this far gone …. from shore.
the dust,   and the sunbeams,   and the stale air   in the Oudemanhuispoort
Urðr, ….. Verðandi, …. and Skuld……..(1983) ………& the dead   recover…. sleep
/ each   perfect   corpse, ……… each   body / ……… hot ….. with flowers / 
when his tongue…. sticks … in his / throat // ….. & how   he lets   it choke him.
When we had walked, several years before, and slowly, over the Hortusbrug, 
into the greenhouse, and beyond .. into Oosterpark (shadowed in the sunlight
from the windows of Vermeer) … bought tobacco   and tomato juice   and slept
beneath the rubber tree,    carving   her names   into leaves   of the agave, 
Zeeburgerstraat,……….. singing   Down   Home   Kami-Sakunobe.
at Giegling under a ring of golden  spotlights, …Lady Science  (NYC)  Sunrise.
EUROFREIGHTER ….foghorn   on the   Hudson,  … and the smell of stale beer,
Nocturnes ..for the King of Naples. … ((Dub Sottomarino) (Rayleigh scattering)
(wood   panelled   walls)) …… and it was dawn   when we left   and we looked
for the first train home. ……… atop     the   oyster   shells     of   Rome.
laid out their garments on the road, ..while others were cutting down branches.
(Atlas   Tethys) …(flesh   wound) …(overlapping   organ   music)   (unfolding
corridors of hours and glass)     (in the moment   of stampeding   horses) 
On the morning   of Carnival,        watched the rhythms      of hot     air 
balloons ….from the window,    blood stained   the pale   green   t-shirt   softly
moving trees in the sun. …Rare Groove … Blues Dances   & House Parties, 1985
-1992  (overlapping  and  I could  love you) … (Give Dem (Style) and Six Pianos)
daikon, lime juice, and fresh coriander   the grid   and the object …(the image)
took pictures of you leaning out the window, shouting …… years, wars, visions 
I have given thee the stigmas   which are the signs of My Passion, …. I am given 
to gently passing,   walking   through the Old Town with a gold framed mirror
(smouldering with unseen colours)   to the westernmost   edge .. of the square
surrounded   by birds. …… (blurred     ossifying      ritual) ……. (yellow   domes
to far off   churches) …….. I saw you     from the garden……..shredding lettuce
in the galley   kitchen,   in the last   warm   days……before   the death.   
Music for Gymnastics…(blackbirds…blackbirds)…You are the Eyes of the World.
damp and lifting earth… fading blue Helly Hansen….turning vivid as you move 
Basho on the Adriatic  smoke in the corners  iridescence of the growing crowd
filling the lilac with sparrows and sparrows and your chequered dress in spring

THE RELIQUARY TRANSLATIONS, 43

behind ……. detached ….. retinas ……………12 days ………..………in Paris,
and I’m waiting     for life     to start. ……… (Gauloises     and white   asparagus)
light headed and raptured, looking down through the courtyard washing lines
and open windows     to arias     of onions,     and my name heard from behind,
and I turned   too slowly   to notice, ………… but these are only     photographs.
In the last summer     before we got     serious, …………..(Kreuzberg,     Kypseli)
laid the table          with yellow   frosted   glasses          under    the yew tree
smoked eel   and cold   potatoes,            peas and bacon,            rabbit braised
with prunes.                   two swigs of Chartreuse ….straight from the freezer
(still wet     from the river)             German rye bread       and queso   de cabra
brought the cafetiere       from the fridge.…………..….(Hope Sonata)   
………...apricots,        cucumbers,        mint, ………………………….cold beer
from the mountains,

the cool   pink   evening       after a day   wracked   with fever 
………….and it took me …weeks longer   to remember    what you had told me. 
scattered leaves     and glimmers     and seagull   feathers,…..……………...warm
gorgeous …………. storm………………………..(dissociate) …………(Tenderness)
sandblast, ……………… silkworms, ……….. solstice ………………… (cauterised) 
carrying two bags of ice   on the back of the neck …………… across the car park 
looked up      to see          a floating     sea ……….of spores 
As if,   in ancient   Scythia, …..witnessing     the bronze tip    of a spear …..pierce
the breast       of a charging ……bull ………………(paraphrasing ……..the Psalms)
……………on the turquoise floor ……….. of the observation   deck
birds followed ……………………………………..and fell

nineteen   months   later …………………………………………….and wrapped 
………….in your pink ……………. beach towel
…………………………………………………………(Swedish       salted       liquorice)
I-III, ……………………..I-IV ……………………(mashrabiya) 
Love,     when seen …. as a contract … of mourning,        to mourn     one another
while living,                            and for whoever        outlives ……………. the other,
to keep        the both        alive.  ……………………. (Face Always     Toward     the Sun)

Fastingen-92   ……………………….and when …..we were lost     in Talence,
on the Cours de la Somme, ………………. on the Pont de Pierre
(Tafelmusik) …………………………….in the softening …………. winter.
………….sang    directly         to anyone                sometimes …………it’s beautiful 
washed ……………..with feeling……………hazy …………. sweetly ……….certain
the years .. ..between wars ………on the Continent… ……………. ………laughing

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James Rodker is an experimental poet based in Bristol. He has work featured in the recent anthology Prototype 6, and has a chapbook forthcoming from Stone Corpse Press.