Darkness
Download MP3Welcome to the Poetry of Evil: place w here mental health intersects with poetry.
I’m your host and the author of these poems, Daniel Viragh.
It’s a beautiful night, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and I am so glad that you are joining us, from near or far away.
Be sure to visit poetryofevil.com for all of your evil poetic needs, including:
- transcripts of the poems
- access to all of our other episodes
- and ways to offer feedback on the material.
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Daylight Savings Time just ended and so tonight, we will be exploring the DARKNESS. Specifically, we will be talking about the darkness that some of us find ourselves in, when confronted with mental health issues.
The first poem is “You, Who Creates,” and it’s the title poem from my first book of poetry, published in 2018.
You who creates
the ashes and the dusk
Behold the flame
that struggles as it must
Give us
of your glory
Holy are we
Only with your trust.
I yearn to mourn
the fragments of the past
I strive to speak
but I know my words come last.
How then
to capture beauty?
Holy, holy
Ye who serve and pass.
My country, it has no borders;
My soul, no boundaries on earth.
These rocks are my only pillow;
My staff, the only thing I’m worth.
So pray as one;
And share with all;
Then say with me:
Amen.
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The second poem is called “Creation,” and it’s also from “You, Who Creates,”.
Must you die a little
every time that you create?
Why is yearning so brittle?
Why does my world still hate?
Can you understand the reticules of time?
The shades and hues and melon dews
of earth and sky and crime?
The messengers of evil,
do they also die at dawn?
Will everything be peaceful
once my infant son is grown?
And what about you, the poet,
Thou usurper of the throne:
will you help us seek the lovely,
the manifold, the gone?
I have no answers for my children,
I am but pen and ink and tear;
the shadows and the constants
affect those I hold too near.
I only wish to see, before it too disappears,
that which is born but not yet created;
that which lives alone in fear.
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This next poem is called “I Went Back”. It’s from “Buddha’s Broken Fingernail,” and it’s about going back, once we are healthy, to where we were abused, in order to make peace with our own past.
I Went Back
I went back to the site of my own desecration
and I returned, what little, I had found.
I saw some unadorned crosses, and violence, and temptation;
and some molested rocks, amidst the crowd.
What I didn’t see was warmth and affection;
what I couldn’t buy was peace, one hundred times untold;
I thought of the truth of the meadows and its flowers;
I said a blessing for some griefs foretold.
I felt sorry for my death, and my casual sense of disrepair;
for my angst, and the ruinous grooves on my brow;
I absolved the past of its shards and I gathered,
some milk and some bread for my sow.
I maintained a dignified sense of elation,
that I was just a visitor to this here, my previous cell.
I returned all the shit that had waited to flower;
and I knew then, that all would be well.
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And finally, here’s a poem called “The Children of Evil,” from my latest book, called “Into You”.
The Children Of Evil
The Children of Evil
don’t want you to know,
they’ve seen everything,
you’ve ever wanted to hide;
they’ve heard all of your stories,
they’ve eaten all of your snakes,
they’ve tasted your mescaline,
and they’ve rejected your bribes.
They want you to see,
that it’s possible out there,
to live a life
that’s sort-of free:
and they wish to inform you
that your values are ghastly:
that they won’t murder and steal,
in the shade of your tree.
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Thank you so much for listening! It’s really an honour to share these offerings with you.
“Poetry of Evil” is meant as a community, where people can comment on what was shared, and perhaps share poems of their own. Please do come and visit us at poetryofevil.com.
Good night!
