Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Ravi Shankar

BLOOD

BLOOD

BLOOD

Marrow-sprung, eucharistic fount, black
pudding beaten in a bucket, kept
from coagulating, final taboo sopped
 
in a tampon or gargling from a slit
carotid artery, left to darken in air
like sunset stored in citrated vials
 
for transfusion, thimblefuls of grape
juice, wedding ring on a leach finger,
brackish foodstuff for the undead,
 
not wrung from turnips, no denser
than porter, it flows filtered forward,
pumps from valves until it clumps. 
Close

BLOOD

Marrow-sprung, eucharistic fount, black
pudding beaten in a bucket, kept
from coagulating, final taboo sopped
 
in a tampon or gargling from a slit
carotid artery, left to darken in air
like sunset stored in citrated vials
 
for transfusion, thimblefuls of grape
juice, wedding ring on a leach finger,
brackish foodstuff for the undead,
 
not wrung from turnips, no denser
than porter, it flows filtered forward,
pumps from valves until it clumps. 

BLOOD

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère