April Poem-A-Day 25-30: The Goldberg Variations

(It became obvious that I wasn't going to meet the quota of 30 poems for April so I'm just blatantly cheating and rolling all of the remaining numbers into this one. I considered doing a five part poem as a slightly more honest cheat but this is what came instead. I can't fight the muse.)

The Goldberg Variations

Exordium:
These scenes linked by notes,
inverted melodies,
progressive transposition,
and restated themes.

Primus:
Shaking all over,
tremors of pleasure
shiver us all night.

Secundus:
Rush of novel sensorium
pulling joyous tears
without thought from them.

Tertius:
Cautious signifier
creates distanced retrospect,
separate memories.

Quartus:
Different cities,
several lovers later,
tragic longing hearts.

Quintus:
Bemoaned emotive callus,
raised and broken in
very specific ways.

Sextus:
Recapitulated over
and over, never the same
despite the urgency.

Septimus:
Unexpected whiff of lavender
releases the flood, the sense memory,
the embrace of ranked years.

Octavus:
These substitutions of us,
kindred connected through
proxy ties and alumni bonds.

Nonus:
Contemplation from bridges,
measuring blank distances
from the past to the present.

Decimus:
We no longer live within
reach, the events receding
the details fading slowly.

Undecimus:
I am stuck in emotional
drydock, yearning to see you one
more time among mauve hyacinths.

Duodecimus:
Mementos kept in storage boxes,
decaying shared crumbs left behind,
losing meaning, losing context.

Tertius decimus – Undetriginta:
Et cetera, mon amour.

Triginta:
Regal mishagosh
celebrates analog Isabella.
Attribute community
Gerontion of the eastern gate,
African salvation now.
Liberty devoured by God,
collapse of the western gate.
Gone west, gone west.

Mutans Aria:
Hannibal Lector killed two guards
while the Variations played
in the background.
Are we like him in some way?
Have we murdered our guardians?
Have we escaped yet?
I don’t think we will
until the west light fails.

© 2009, php

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Listening to: 801 - You Really Got Me