Saturday, April 14, 2012

Spanner: Double Poetic Prelude for Chapter 15 R4

Here’s the new double prelude I’ve just composed for the dedication page of the ebook edition of Spanner Chapter 15, that pivotal episode of Book 1:

Carne Levare

She wakes up from a dream into soft desiring flesh
Cool wind caresses kisses dark skin sensitive tender
Blood surges hot with electric intensity of passion
Conscious mind bathes in streams of thought and sensation
The wind brings summer birds’ gentle songs into her ears
Strong emotion burns her vision to intense clarity
She stretches out with pleasure the worries of the day before
And turns to the warm soft-eyed lover resting beside her
They surrender to each other with joyful savage kisses
And fuse inflamed bodies to raise their flesh to nirvana.

Carne Vale

The Ego longs to storm the ethereal sky
   Yet finds itself trapped in its fleshly tomb
Infernal powers oppress his exalted eye
   And carnal monsters drag his dust to doom
Fighting the world, he struggles to crucify
   His flesh and wills escape from the mortal gloom
To take new flesh divine his efforts bought
And reduce the dead material world to naught.

If Spanner is a sort of Carnival in political-thriller form, the two Latin origins of the name “Carnival” (carne levare = to raise the flesh; carne vale = farewell to the flesh) encapsulate the radical difference between carnal heroine Shira and unworldly archvillain Dr. Becket, who clash for the first time in Chapter 15.  I might not be taking part in NaPoWriMo this year, but its spirit has infected me. And now you’re reading it here first!

Copyright © 2012 Dennis Jernberg. Some rights reserved.
Creative Commons License

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