bliss bliss (heart’s beat)

by Stuart Barnes

With a nod to Melvin Dixon

I meditate

salute the sun

jump rope for heart

one two three four

swim laps for lungs

five six sev’n eight

write poetry
good kokoro

zip my suitcase

ignore the hunch

each window’s wide

‘Bliss’ (Live) is free

a Toll Mack truck

arrests my drive

stereo plunge

-dives into wreck

tossed cross of pain

on shoulders, neck

hot clot of shock

arrhythmic cop

Take photos, move

your vehicle—

My ears are throb

-bing, vision’s blurred—

You’re blocking this

arterial—

My car’s a squished

accordion—

a vein pops, Move

your vehicle—

The vertigo—

For fuck’s sake, drive!

in limbs & trunk

electric shocks

the hard neck brace

& spinal board

Emergency’s

tranquillity

the Niked nurse

with cannula

the brilliance of

the fentanyl

the CT scan

I meditate

the lost report

soft-eyed, I wait

Your brain is un

-remarkable

disjointed sen

-tences & words

I hit the wall

I black out twice

the sirens call

BP’s real high

Emergency’s

disharmony

the spiky nurse

with cannula

the bruit of Doc

Automaton

A pinched nerve or

a TIA

take aspirin

don’t drive—one week

I meditate

take aspirin

read poetry

aid memory

the MRI

I meditate

No TIA

don’t drive—one week

more H₂O

no added salt

carotid du

-plex ultrasound

I can’t dismiss

my blood’s bliss bliss

Your arteries

are beautiful

I meditate

salute the sun

jump rope for heart

one two three four

swim laps for lungs

five six sev’n eight

write poetry

good kokoro

more H₂O

no added salt

desensitise

myself, I drive

my frigatebird

pumps up its pouch

The triumph of

an upbeat heart!

Note: Sōtō Zen priest Shōhaku Okumura writes about kokoro in ‘What is Kokoro?’, Lion’s Roar, December 18, 2018: ‘Kokoro is a common Japanese word that carries meanings conveyed by the English words “mind” and “heart”. The entry for kokoro in a dictionary of classic Japanese words [reads]: “Originally, kokoro referred to the beat of the heart, which was considered to be the essential organ of life and the source of all activities. By extension, kokoro refers to all human activities affecting the outside world through intention, emotion, and intellect.” Kokoro, then, has three basic meanings: the heart and its functions; mind and its functions; and centre, or essence’

Share This

Immortal Jellyfish

by Stuart Barnes

I ask’d thee, ‘Give me immortality.’

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘Tithonus’

Pinkie fingernail-small. No brain, all brawn.

I bloom in ballast water, bell awake

in a cell a far cry from the marquee

of the sea. You goggle at, prod my art

—unfussed, cruciate, scarlet. Have a heart,

you pray, aspiring Tithonuses. Make

known to us your mystery. Let me be

crystal clear—just the unfeared can redawn.

Share This

Spenserian Sonnet

by Stuart Barnes

SUMATRAN will understand your aura.

It is not controlling like a pharmacist.

It is not cold or bitter like a doctor.

It is pink as the concern of an agonist.

One dose and you will smoke relief. Persist

-ent purple ears, sore jaw? Two-pack

of lies. You will not flush, tremor, fit, faint or blist

-er. Forty-year-old male? No heart attack.

It is hearsay, that it is sick, the pack

-aging—stroke it. Don’t be so sensitive,

Shorty—migraine will not come back.

This medicine is highly selective.

It does not contain gluten,

wort or sugar. Give it your full atten—

note: ‘Spenserian Sonnet’ remixes some of the text from SUMATRAN Consumer Medicine Information https://www.mydr.com.au/medicines/sumatran-tablets

Share This

Tritina after Satre

by Stuart Barnes

There are far worse things than being
raped. Countess Judas’ kiss and
Earl Thomas’ doubt. Nothingness

unpursing lips, spit of nothingness
in the eye. All other things being
equal. Noosa’s gnarled nooses and

the ecru car’s everlastingness and
the fuss and the fuss about nothingness.
The conjunction of nothingness and being.

Being’s snarled attics and static of nothingness.

Share This

Bone Scan

by Stuart Barnes

Share This