H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
ELIOT KATZ
To the Northern
Winds July 4, 2002
Sitting in cabin kitchen with Vivian
meditating with eyes open
following breath out
nostrils
the day clear and beautiful
but cold, and windy as hell
it's heaven up here in Canada's north country
no inkling of industrial air pollution
not another human being within 50 miles
just Vivian and I reenergizing our love
and daily nightly mercurial wanderings
forest dust blows
from here through the hemisphere
it slips through the eyelid & the
screen door
nests between the
molars & under the tongue
it can make a nation crazy
or cause a dog to sit up and take notice
It's been a crazy fucking year
full of death and the fear that creates more
death
full of heightened alerts & habitual
nightmares
full of bedroom intruders dressed in
terrorist beards
& talking busted
syntax on the Pentagon's porch
O Northern Winds can you blow some uncommon
sense
into our nation down below?
Can you wine & dine us this year with a
cleansing tempest?
Can you whistle and make our giant egos
disappear?
Can you help us elect a new president?
The terrorists have murdered innocent lives
and given America's insane right an
unnatural gift
From up here where the winds howl
it's obvious nature abhors a fundamentalist
judge
and the whole pyramid scheme of corporate
theft
The Northern Winds blow the leaves hard
but take time off so the trunks can rest
We remember the World Wars and the inhuman
slaughters
we recall the old famines and the new
disease
yet have begun to build another dangerous
century
Last night ravens flew figure 8's near the
cabin, playing
in yr gusts. O Winds, we have learned to cross large continents
to embrace our love. Can you shake us out
of our future-destroying
weaponry for a new
start? Tell the children:
another new century
can begin whenever we choose.
(written in Alberta, Canada)
[Originally
published in NHS 2003, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs03/katz.html.]