on a prophet

she says that she
is learning to be immortal
although it has not
been easy
she’s trying to learn
to stop eating she says
nourishment
distracts the body
from its truth
last week I found her
in the garage with
three cans of tuna
she cried
said it’s harder
when it’s cold out like
this it’s so cold in
the garage
I know

the prophet is mad
she is losing her hair
and has broken
her bedframe at
the center she
sleeps on the floor now
with the dog she says
we are all animals
take a bite of me
am I not meat
am I not gamey
it is
better this way
she says
am I not
a beast
look at my eyes glow
red and my claws
she is rending
her bedsheets
wrapped in them
there on the ground
her prophecy will
come soon and it will be
useless sputtering

she falls over
while ordering a coffee
says that intoxicants
bring her closer to the truth
it is nourishment
that is drawing her away
she grabs at the teabags
in their waxed paper packets
crawls under the counter
won’t come out
the barista looks down
to his work

she told me
she had seen her brother
decide to die
I’m going
he said
then he closed his eyes
and he was gone

the prophecy is gone
they said you could
grow it in dung
or pre-mix it and
store it in the freezer
but come upon
in that form
it is only
the size of a droplet
of water and when it
falls to earth
well it barely makes a sound

•

I’m beginning work on a new video poem of Kathleen Robert’s “on a prophet,” part of the “With Sirens Blaring” collaboration.

Prøve Collective, in Duluth, Minnesota, will display a body of work linking poetry to visual, film, and sound art. Pursuant to a grant from the McKnight Foundation, award-winning Duluth poet Kathleen Roberts is creating an assembly of films and artwork by local and regional artists based on her words. These works will be displayed permanently on her website and in Prøve’s August exhibition, “With Sirens Blaring,” August 8-23, 2014.