The Red Pyramid
The Red Pyramid
sits on its plaza downtown
dwarfing Giza
There are days
when its burnished capstone
is lost in cloud
and you might think
that the sky
seen from its peak
must be black, thin
with the nearness of space
but that is only night
There are four gates
north, south, east, west
great revolving doors
thick, with glass tinted
to give the appearance
of crystal
Beyond them
are truly massive corridors
flooded with light
lined with shops
a mall for the ages
Khufu's shade
lured astray
from the pathways
of the afterworld
would goggle
at the casual riches
that the common and the high
mingle and mix
with lust for
while music
and the drone
of godly voices
from unseen speakers
ripples
hawking bargains
in the lambent air
Above the mall
offices fatten out
the pyramid's thick regions
No one quite knows
the exact level
where Mammon
comes to an end
Oh, I've heard it all
that unmarked doors
open into labyrinths
of metal and stone
unspeaking rooms and halls
guarding
the secret shit
soap opera of the gods
Talas built the whole thing
so that on the night
after the grand opening party
he could strangle his rose
and entomb her
in the penthouse
thinking it would free him
from her taunting dagger
He installed rows
of geometric computers
in the crimson walls
clack clack clacking
through the calculations
that will yield a formula
the formula, the equation
the answer
The Red Pyramid
sits on its plaza downtown
dwarfing Giza
There are days
when its burnished capstone
is lost in cloud
and you might think
that the sky
seen from its peak
must be black, thin
with the nearness of space
but that is only night
There are four gates
north, south, east, west
great revolving doors
thick, with glass tinted
to give the appearance
of crystal
Beyond them
are truly massive corridors
flooded with light
lined with shops
a mall for the ages
Khufu's shade
lured astray
from the pathways
of the afterworld
would goggle
at the casual riches
that the common and the high
mingle and mix
with lust for
while music
and the drone
of godly voices
from unseen speakers
ripples
hawking bargains
in the lambent air
Above the mall
offices fatten out
the pyramid's thick regions
No one quite knows
the exact level
where Mammon
comes to an end
Oh, I've heard it all
that unmarked doors
open into labyrinths
of metal and stone
unspeaking rooms and halls
guarding
the secret shit
soap opera of the gods
Talas built the whole thing
so that on the night
after the grand opening party
he could strangle his rose
and entomb her
in the penthouse
thinking it would free him
from her taunting dagger
He installed rows
of geometric computers
in the crimson walls
clack clack clacking
through the calculations
that will yield a formula
the formula, the equation
the answer
painting copyright Steve Mannion
They moved the bus station
but if memory
has any grip
it used to be
right about
where the mall food court
is, now
It's all
a bit too much for me
but I can take it
for a while
sitting there
drinking bottled water
remembering the metallic taste
of the bus station's water fountain
and plunking down 12 cents
for a comic book
Dr. Strange, Mordo and Nebulos
Lord of the Planet Perilous
before going out into the city
to look at paintings
or sea anemones
Memory of squalor
escaped in fantasy
Cheap, fantastic opulence
escaped in memory
somewhere
there is an innermost chamber
great keystones
counterbalanced
to bear
impossible weight
windowless
brilliant, horrible
with the loneliness
of knowing
Talas raised a pyramid
a strange spike
to jab into the sky
to wound space itself
as the world rips
its juggernaut path
Talas raised
a peaceful sanctum
storms slide down
its graceful sides
into the streets
into the drains
into the uncertain ground
a light atop the capstone
and only night
(c) 2004 Malcolm Deeley
but if memory
has any grip
it used to be
right about
where the mall food court
is, now
It's all
a bit too much for me
but I can take it
for a while
sitting there
drinking bottled water
remembering the metallic taste
of the bus station's water fountain
and plunking down 12 cents
for a comic book
Dr. Strange, Mordo and Nebulos
Lord of the Planet Perilous
before going out into the city
to look at paintings
or sea anemones
Memory of squalor
escaped in fantasy
Cheap, fantastic opulence
escaped in memory
somewhere
there is an innermost chamber
great keystones
counterbalanced
to bear
impossible weight
windowless
brilliant, horrible
with the loneliness
of knowing
Talas raised a pyramid
a strange spike
to jab into the sky
to wound space itself
as the world rips
its juggernaut path
Talas raised
a peaceful sanctum
storms slide down
its graceful sides
into the streets
into the drains
into the uncertain ground
a light atop the capstone
and only night
(c) 2004 Malcolm Deeley
He aligned it
so that at high midsummer
no shadow
is cast in any direction
In that instant
for that moment
all nature bows
Well, what do I know?
I do remember
when I was a kid
it was a bad neighborhood
a lot
of hard crap
went down
We lived in the suburbs
but my grandmother
would take me on the bus
sometimes
to go to the museum
or the aquarium
and there was always
a bad smell
and some seriously scary faces
that slid by the bus window
as we rattled
into that part
of downtown
Just a kid
in my quiet-town world
when they razed it all
and erected
the red
hard red
red
Talas plowed
all the bums and chickenheads
right into the concrete
of its foundations
real bones
to put some rib
into the rebar
He emptied all the vaults
of every bank in Gromagon
and hid it all
in lightless rooms
above
the management offices
He drilled a shaft
through the pyramid floor
and ran it straight
to the hotgodgoblin core
Sure
I've heard it all
so that at high midsummer
no shadow
is cast in any direction
In that instant
for that moment
all nature bows
Well, what do I know?
I do remember
when I was a kid
it was a bad neighborhood
a lot
of hard crap
went down
We lived in the suburbs
but my grandmother
would take me on the bus
sometimes
to go to the museum
or the aquarium
and there was always
a bad smell
and some seriously scary faces
that slid by the bus window
as we rattled
into that part
of downtown
Just a kid
in my quiet-town world
when they razed it all
and erected
the red
hard red
red
Talas plowed
all the bums and chickenheads
right into the concrete
of its foundations
real bones
to put some rib
into the rebar
He emptied all the vaults
of every bank in Gromagon
and hid it all
in lightless rooms
above
the management offices
He drilled a shaft
through the pyramid floor
and ran it straight
to the hotgodgoblin core
Sure
I've heard it all