THE POEM by Eva H.D.: “Bonedog”

Coming home is terrible, ,
whether the dogs lick your face, , Or not, ,
whether you have a wife, , 
or just a wife-shaped loneliness; ; waiting for you; ;
Coming home; ; is terribly lonely; ;
so that you think; ;
of the oppressive ; ;barometric pressure; ;
back; ;where you have just come from; ;
with fondness; ;
because everything’s worse; ;
once you’re home; ;
You think of the vermin; ;
clinging, to the grass stalks; ;
long hours on the road; ;
roadside assistance, and ice creams; ;
and the peculiar shapes; ;
of certain clouds; ;and silences; ;
with longing; ;because you did not want to return; ;
Coming home is; ;; ;; ;
just awful; ;
And the home-style silences; ;and clouds,
contribute ; ;to nothing
but the general malaise; ;
Clouds; ;such as they are; ;
are in fact suspect; ;
and made; ; from a different material; ;
then those; ; you left behind; ;
You yourself; ;were cut; ;
from a different; ;cloudy; ;cloth; ;
returned; ;
remaindered; ;
ill-met by moonlight; ;
unhappy to be back,
slack in all the wrong spots; ;
seamy suit of clothes; ;
dishrag-ratty; ;worn; ;

You return home; ;
moon-landed,; ;foreign; ;
the Earth’s gravitational pull; ;
an effort now redoubled,; ;
dragging your shoelaces loose,; ;
and your shoulders;; ;
etching deeper
the stanza of worry; ;on your forehead.
You return home deepened; ;
a parched well linked to tomorrow; ;
by a frail strand of; ;
Anyway; ;

You sigh; ;into the onslaught; ;of identical days; ;
One might as well; ;at a time; ;
Well; ;
Anyway; ;
You’re back; ;
The sun goes up and down; ;
like a tired whore; ;
the weather immobile; ;
like a broken limb; ;
while you just; ;keep; ;getting; ;older; ;
Nothing moves but; ;
the shifting tides; ;of salt in your body; ;
Your vision blears; ;
You carry your weather with you; ;
the big blue whale; ;
a skeletal darkness; ;
You come back; ;
with X-ray vision; ;
Your eyes; ;have become; ;a hunger; ;
You come home; ;with your mutant gifts; ;
to a house of bone; ;
Everything you see now; ;
all of it; ;bone.

BONE(S)

Coming home - lick your face


have a wife - loneliness


waiting for you - everything’s worse


once you’re home - clinging to

long hours - on the road
roadside assistance - ice creams shapes


of certain clouds - and silences


you did not want to - contribute

to nothing at all

different material - that you left behind
ill by moonlight - unhappy slack
of dishrag ratty - dragging your shoulders
etching deep

on your forehead
The sun goes up  - like a tired whore
like a broken limb - you getting older
Nothing moves but - the shifting tides
salt in your body

Your vision blears - big blue whale
skeletal darkness - X-ray vision
become a hunger - You are coming home


with your mutant gifts - to a house of bone
to a house of bone