CESARE A.X. SYJUCO - Selected Poems from "A Sudden Rush of Genius"
Now Available: Cesare A.X. Syjuco: SELECTED POEMS from “A SUDDEN RUSH OF GENIUS” *National Book Award Winner, 2008 IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? IS THERE ANYTHING ALIVE? Cesare A.X. Syjuco Is there anybody out there? Is there anything alive? Black leather birds are circling And speckling the sky., Miles of concrete curdling Are stinking up the air., The sea swells and rises But there’s no fish there., 1. If there’s anything out there It’s probably dead. Probably been dead forever., Are there any faces out there? Is it anyone you know? And if they call to you in riddles Are you inclined to go? Whose dreams are those left out there Playing in the heads Of children and their sorceries Dancing in their beds? 2. If there’s anything out there It’s probably been killed. Probably been killed for Herod., Are there any sounds out there? Shit music in the least The click of mahjong pieces At one wake of a feast? And how the shrieking crowds will hau