The following excerpts are from a long sequence dealing with
a San Francisco woman's experiences and the legendary Irish
mythological creatures, the Sidhe (pronounced she).
Sidhe
Shape-shifters
Earth walkers
Night flyers
Dwellers under the hills
Ireland/San Francisco
(there) (there)
An O'Sidhe Is Born In the Flatlands
My mother was of Ireland,
My father came to dance…
The father 9 months later Love like heat and cold
moves down the street Pierces and then is gone;
with Bernadine Of the Tight Maroon Dress
Jealousy when it strikes
and Large Bosom. Sticks in the marrowbone.
Here's health to your enemy's enemies
Father O'Bank O'American Dream
New cars Here's health and prosperity
For the girls new matching dresses
to you and all your posterity
New shoes
New, New, O'New! damned for all eternity
New bank examiner, new
trial, new word:
Embezzlement
What did the Bank Examiner say to the father of O'Sidhe?
Go to jail.
What did the Bank Examiner say to the mother of O'Sidhe?
Marry me.
Here's to you and yours and to mine and ours and if
And the Flower Like Milk in a Dark Pantry at Night
Narrow hallway Pantry The Mortal Man
of Un-Nourishing Substance
reaches for O'Sidhe
I see the color on your head but
What color is your hair
Really?
O'Sidhe perches high in the corner
back pushed gainst the ceiling:
Fi! Fie! Fo! Fum!
She didn't know
Flight
until he came -- the Mortal Son.
O'Mind! O'Powerful Mind!
No man can reach the shape-shifter.
I could scale the blue air
I could plough the high hills
I could kneel at night in prayer
To heal your many ills
Where O'Sidhe Keeps Her Tongue
In a silver box
shaped like a shield, a spear.
Evenings, she slips it
from safety, sings to her sister
songs of stars and moon.
Before sleep she plucks it,
returns it to the vault
of silent daughters.
Excerpted from the final section, O'Sidhe Lives Through
Twin Peaks Woman
undresses in front of the fire
undresses O'Sidhe, too.
(O John Wayne stay away
from the shape-shifter!)
A man she thinks she loves
and comes hard to Night flyer
but she is Irish (remember?)
and he is Jewish so,
you know,
the Mother. Earth walker
Then coke then dope Shape shifter
then Death with a capital D
one night standing Night flyer
right in the corner
the 80s pounding on the door Earth!
screaming
WAKE UP! EVERYONE'S GOING
STRAIGHT! Night!
She didn't. Flyer!
Away, come away:
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
O, Dark mother