Saul Williams
Said the Shotgun to the Head (extract)
10: CITESENS, children of the night, bearers of the day torch: scorched and burned. BURN NOT. the dam is broken. the curse is fled. once muddied and still, the river runs RED! "ALL those ships that never sailed the ones with their seacocks open that were scuttled in their stalls TODAY i bring them back HUGE AND INTRANSITORY and let them sail FOREVER!"* if ever there were currents uncurrent the wind could not serve as truth's currency CURRENTLY MOON MARKED AND SUN SPARKED UNMARKED BILLS i AM CERTAIN i SPEAK A NEW LANGUAGE as is ALWAYS THE FIRST SIGN of a NEW AGE i had begun to believe my blackened toenails were on the path to decay when, in truth, they had begun the gradual process of CRYSTALLIZATION. i am he who walks on wind scorned feet with toenails of AMETHYST AND ROSE QUARTZ. my path now crystal clear. i AM COME TO TELL YOU SHE IS HERE. it is not written NO pen MAN ship was ever CARGOED with her character NOTE: BOOKS ARE CAREFULLY FOLDED FORESTS void of autumn BOUND FROM THE SUN Likewise, she made her residence ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF A SHADOWING HISTORY ON THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON where the searchlighte of the sun COULD NOT SPOT HER nor rot her the seed of forbidden fruit every tree HAS A HIDDEN ROOT YET, SHE HAS COME TO LIGHT THE SWELLING PATCHWORK OF VIBRANT DREAMS YES, THERE IS A SCIENCE TO THE AROMA OF SLEEPING WOMEN (AND TO THINK OF THE GIRLFRIEND i WAS TEMPTED TO BREAK UP WITH BECAUSE SHE SLEPT TOO MUCH) i now know, they NURTURED her there: they slept in packs dreamt in cycles NURSED HER IN SHIFTS and became her ON ROTATION unnamed her everytime she was named so she would not be known to anyone (even unto herself) undressed her everytime she was dressed so she would not be recognized as anyone other than herself they blindfolded her and spun her in circles so she would find her way here by no other means than her intuition and she is come i am a simple disoriented man in her presence i wear my loincloth over my eyes and ejaculate too soon forgive me father for i have sinned i prayed to you and cupped the wind and in doing so barred her entry into a century: 100 years of solitude (yes, the wind is the moon's imgination wandering) i will now pray with my hands outstreched with these psalms etched into my palms 9: most beloved, i am certain of nothing more than your existence a thousand ants crawling under a log may find themselves exposed in my childlike search for you (...) my kali flower i am eternally destroyed by your love no longer am i eligible for any worker's pension my friends laugh at me and talk behind my back they say you have changed me and i am i am like a survivor of the flood walking through the streets drenched with God surprised that all of the drowned victims are still walking and talking maybe there's hope i rush to each victim's side sucking what i can of you out of your various incarnations pumping their stomachs and filling them to touch them is to touch you to kiss them is to kiss you my friends, love is an artform slightly removed from its element one may ask well what does this mean? i respond i've made it up but it shall be from now on from now on cities will be built on one side of the street so that soothsayers will have wilderness to wander and lovers space enough to contemplate a kiss she kissed as if she, alone, could forge the signature of the sun i closed my eyes although i never knew the difference i stood before a brighter light at lesser distance
and then, a feeling. Almost as if nothing were ever bound to repeat itself again. As if history had been as masterfully created as the great pyramids and any attempt to reconstruct or relive any given moment would have to stem from an understanding of how the pyramids were built from the TOP DOWN.
and if one could understand such majesty one would also understand that kisses hold codes for unlocking new portals and that pyramids were first made of flesh
and if one could understand such majesty one would also understand that kisses hold codes for unlocking new portals and that pyramids were first made of flesh
our bonded souls shifting through hidden corrals and passageways i will find my way to eternity within you when i can feel you breathing into me i, like a stone gargoyle atop some crumbling building, spring to life a resuscitated angel i sweep through city streets my wings out-stretched making mothers clutch their young and remember and do you remember, dear ones or has your history forsaken you? there were tales told 'round fires mysteries coded in song chants and uprisings centuries of art all incantations calling forth this day on this day the drunks vomit in unison 'though last night they drank from different cups children laugh and play introducing their parents to invisible friends a country girl smiles and two trees blossom out of season sea sons awaken our mother has returned to wave us from uncertainty once tidal twice born of wooden ships thrice formed through mother's hips mother ships graced tu lips a poet's garden "2 for 5" "they're going fast" the future's bargain "that's strange" "i heard my name" the river's parting "hurry up" things blurry up the sun is darkened rivers like oceans oceans like answers questions in cloud forms raindrops in stanzas to be or not to... to see or not to... she has eyes like two turntables mix(h)er in between my dreams and reality blend in ancient themes the bass is of isis (basis) cross-faded to ankh the beat drops like a cliff over-looking my heart 8: 6000 feet above sea level 330 bodies disassembled the head bone's connected to the cock pit knee jerk ass backwards dancing slaves in a mosh pit punk rock of gibralter roll out nothing's new mo' blood dues the mo hawk only this time it's you and you never loved her for what she possessed you powdered her face and came on her head-dress oil slicked feathers, putrid stenched water-bed "mother nature's a whore," said the shotgun to the head. and it smelled like teen spirit angst driven insecure a country in puberty a country at war



