Mark J. Mitchell – 1 poem

THE FINAL PASSION OF ANTONIN ARTAUD

 

Si l’on pouvait seulement goûter son néant…

                If only you could taste your nothingness.

—Antonin Artaud

                                                                The Nerve Meter

 

 

 

 

                        The loose magic of Artaud in his cell:

                        Emptied by electroshock, never quite cured.

                        His knowledge straps him to the cold table.

                        Saint Joan leads him a long way down the hall.

                        She watches his feet, shifting cables,

                        sharing him with fire. She smiles as he burns.

                        Taut fingers casting Tibetan spells.

                        He prays dirty prayers while green corpses churn

                        yak butter in sterile rooms. Unstable,

                        he knows, but doesn’t care. Holy shoes still

                        pray for him. Angry angels haunt the curves

                        of his brain. The saint blesses him with bells.

 

 

Mark J. Mitchell’s latest novel, The Magic War just appeared from Loose Leaves Publishing. A Full-length collection of poems will released next year by Encircle Publications.  He studied writing at UC Santa Cruz under Raymond Carver and George Hitchcock. His work has appeared in the several anthologies and hundreds of periodicals. Three of his chapbooks— Three Visitors, Lent, 1999, and Artifacts and Relics—and the novel, Knight Prisoner are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  He lives with his wife the activist and documentarian, Joan Juster and makes a living pointing out pretty things in San Francisco.

A meager online presence can be found at https://www.facebook.com/MarkJMitchellwriter/