Mythopoetry Scholar
Annual Reflections In Depth Perspectives
Two Poems
"Spit Toward The Door " & "Imagined Flesh"
-Dennis Patrick Slattery
Spit Toward The Door
..............For Sir James George Frazer
Bilious at arm’s length
disease grins yellow and green
dances around the bed in delight
tooth fang in grips.
Medicinals dismissed.
Misfortune gathers in woolen balls
under the bed—
in the corners of the ceiling.
Paint stirs to deep orange and blueberry.
Several women faces covered
whip thermometers through the vibrant
air
and spit toward the door knowing
a demon detox will dissolve disease
through antibodies of belief.
Children outside craft tiny canoes
from popsicle sticks
offerings to departed demons.
Travel is the cure and making something certain
a medley to invite the tumors of illness to depart.
Inside the women swing their arms
and spit toward the door
salvific saliva for the wounded one sitting
upright in bed wondering what commotions
have robbed him of his rest.
At the foot of the bed a basket of
salt stirs, shudders and groans
pinched into serving the frozen feet
of those cured in bed.
****************************
Imagined Flesh
Where inside the garments I
wear to hide my fictions
is a person of substantial means?
Open the core of organs and blood
arteries and veins
brain and rivulets of fluids
and the smells of a self
updraft in spirals.
Take the temperature of an
illusion and count the beats of
a heart on its own.
No one is home in citadels
of uncertainty; fasten yourself
anything coerced by gravity.
Accept the illusion of yourself
using real silverware to slice
imaginary apples and fantastic
pears frail in the face of fortune.
I exact tokens from every turnstile
see into gross negligence
the contours of creations
as if I had substance
but no accidents.
*** **** ****** *** **** **** 
**** *** ****** *** **** ***
Author Bio
Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D. has been teaching for 43 years, the last 11 at PacificA Graduate Institute. While the majority of his teaching is done through courses in the Mythological Studies Program, he has also taught in the MA Counseling Psychology and Depth Psychology Programs. He is the author of over 200 articles and book reviews in newspapers, magazines, journals and chapters in books. His own books include: The Idiot: Dostoevsky's Fantastic Prince (Peter Lang, 1984); The Wounded Body: Remembering the Markings of Flesh (SUNY .Press, 2000);four volumes of poetry, Casting the Shadows (Winchester Canyon Press, 2002), Just Below The Waterline (Winchester Canyon Press, 2004, Twisted Sky (Wincester Canyon Press, 2007) The Beauty Between Words (Waterforest Press, 2010); co-edited with Lionel Corbett Depth Psychology: Meditations in the Field (Daimon-Verlag, 2001); Psychology at the Threshold (PGI Press, 2002); a memoir, Grace in the Desert: Awakening to the Gifts of Monastic Life (Jossey-Bass, 2004). With Charles Asher a novel, Simon's Crossing (iUniverse, 2010), Harvesting Darkness: Essays on Literature, Myth, Film and Culture (iUniverse, 2006) and Day-to-Day Dante: Exploring Personal Myth Through The Divine Comedy (iUniverse 2011).
additional links for this author
website: http://dennispslattery.com/
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