The Severed Garden
Wow, I'm sick of doubt
Live in the light of certain
south
Cruel bindings
The sevants have the power
dog-men & their mean women
pulling poor blankets over
our sailors
I'm sick of dour faces
Staring at me from the T.V.
Tower, I want roses in
my garden bower; dig?
Royal babies, rubies
must now replace aborted
Strangers in the mud
These mutants, blood-meal
for the plant that's plowed
they are waiting to take us into
the severed garden
Do you know how pale & wanton thrillful
comes death on a stranger hour
unannounced, unplanned for
like a scaring over-friendly guest you've
brought to bed
Death makes angels of us all & gives us wings
where we had shoulders
smooth as raven's claws
No more money, no more fancy dress
This other kingdom seems by far the best
until its other jaw reveals incest
& loose obedience to a vegetable law
I will not go
Prefer a feast of friends
To the Giant family
Graveyard Poem
It was the greatest night of my life
although I still had not found a wife
I had my friends right there beside me
We tripped the wall
We scaled the graveyard
Ancient shapes were all around us
The wet dew felt fresh beside the fog
Two made love in an ancient spot
One chased a rabbit into the dark
A girl got drunk and balled the dead
And I gave empty sermons to my head
Cemetery, cool and quiet
Hate to leave your secret lay
Dread the milky coming of the day
If anyone is wondering the significance and the relation
of Barnesy to Lizard King poetry well let's just say that one night whilst
sinking some piss on the banks of the Yarra River in Warrandyte ,Barnesy
reflected on some of his childhood days when an older and widely respected
local citizen of the town said something to Barnesy as he was leaving .
. . something that changed his life forever:
"until we meet, our shadows may pass but if you are not awake you will hear the muffled scream,then you may run,run to the lake,the top of the lake where the lizard king resides"
At the time Barnesy didn't know what the man meant and he carried on with his normal life. That was the last thing this man said to anybody, before his death (alcohol poisoning) . But this night many, many years later, Barnesy pondered the meaning of this statement and he eventually worked out the awareness of life that this man was trying to pass on to the next generation of "chosen ones". Barnesy than knew that his goal, his objective in life was to follow the lyrical genius's work in discovering the meanings and emotions that lied beneath the mere words on a page and beneath the commonly reguarded ideas of what his writing meant and discovering the perplexity that was actually quite simple to a few - and Barnesy . . . was one of those few . . .