Observable Phenomena

Jesse S. Mitchell

The alterations of faith, murmuring their parts,
Locked quarantine inside each vacant chest,
Loudest when boastful but when humble they
Beat best.
They beat best.

‘Science is what makes this earth my playground, my friend.
Iodine, quinine as toxic as strychnine’
‘But not half as much fun…’
‘So thin, my God you have become so damned thin.’
‘Mars is in retrograde, guess you know what that means?’
‘Venus in the ascent?’
‘I’ll have to draw out your chart.’

I have hyenas and hyphens, old hymns hidden under my skin
Masquerading as bones, tendons and bones,
Laughing laughing bones…
Lithium in my veins, pale.

This jaguar walks down the streets of London,
Cheek full of betel nut and coca leaf.
By Darwinian increments becoming more and more human
(don’t you know me by my spots?)
I come from far away, far away from far flung flaming sun planet earth,
Planet earth,
But this is where I shall pursue thee through these alien fields of happiness.

The alterations of faith, murmuring their parts,
Locked quarantine inside each vacant chest,
Loudest when boastful but when humble they
Beat best.
It beats best.