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Oneiros

The scientist extends his eye
A microscope he pours over
The corpuscles of her skin
A woman he has taken to his bed
To record his visions on tablets of light

The glassy skinned virgin
Pours automatic verses into his ear
This is your honey, this is your wine
This is Oneiros a third name for me

Dream woman and Oneiros
Drink till drunk, my love, my sex
Shatter the laws of understanding

And make war on the sciences…

2

I was your first lover
Can your memory disregard me so easily

The First Eve before the ox
That bore life into humanity

The mistress of insatiable tears
Of sputum and blood
The labyrinthine clockwork
Of the human mind

Touch me there
For I am a lover never made
For procreation

Love me there in the kernel
Of the living city

Place your mouth to my sex
Offer me the kisses denied to me by love
And put down that book of the many gods

The gods of the eye
The gods of weeping
The god of the naked countenance
Glass bodied Tristessa

Drink of me till I am dead
Because there are no more poems
To record the tablature of your humanity

Life is to be found in the new
And endless war
Goodbye gentle breeze upon your throat

I am the word
Spoken by your mother
The only living goddess

Is the mystery more beautiful
Than the truth?

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The below is a computer generated response from Neo, Neopoet's computer artificial intelligence:

The poem "The Bodiless Lover" by an unknown author explores the relationship between a scientist and his lover, who is portrayed as a dream woman named Oneiros. The language used in the poem is rich and evocative, with vivid imagery and sensual descriptions. The poem is divided into two parts, each with its own distinct tone and style.

In the first part of the poem, the scientist is described as using a microscope to examine the corpuscles of his lover's skin, suggesting a desire to understand her on a cellular level. The woman is described as pouring "automatic verses" into his ear, which adds to the dreamlike quality of the poem. The use of the name Oneiros, which is Greek for dream, further emphasizes this theme.

The second part of the poem takes on a more mythical tone, with references to the First Eve and the gods of weeping. The speaker asks to be loved in the "kernel of the living city," which suggests a desire to be at the center of everything. The language in this part of the poem is more abstract and less concrete than the first part, which may make it more difficult for some readers to follow.

One suggested line edit would be to change "Drink till drunk my beloved sex" to "Drink till drunk, my love, my sex." This change would make the line more grammatically correct and easier to understand.

Overall, "The Bodiless Lover" is a complex and thought-provoking poem that uses rich language and vivid imagery to explore themes of love, desire, and understanding. While the second part of the poem may be more challenging for some readers, the overall effect of the poem is powerful and moving.

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the feel of regret, and dreams of things that were!
The second part of this write, while I am not sure; I feel that it
may have certain religious overtones. It focuses on saying goodbye
to the traditional views of propriety, and reverting to a Hedonistic life
of wants and satisfaction. Maybe?... At any rate, a good read that leaves much to think about.

~ Geezer.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
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I’ve not read much Kerouac only a few of his poems so was unfamiliar with that Tristessa reference I only thought of it as a name or female epithet for weeping. The poem was inspired by the myth of the three wives of Adam Lilith, The First Eve and Eve herself. The First Eve was composed of the bile, viscera and stomach tissue of Adam in his very sight. Being baron she was not born to bear life. Her sole purpose to whisper the fate of a newborn into the infants ear his/her first night in the world. A purpose designed by herself rather than be consigned to the sea of oblivion. I’ve extrapolated such thought processes and dabbled between the scientific and the spiritual anyway that’s a little of 5he background thanks Geezer regards John

author comment

I was considering changing the title to “The First Eve” but I’ve been advised in the past not to give too much too soon.

author comment

Hi Habibi
It is an intriguing piece with great imagery that is science fictiony in the first part and mythological in the second I, delightfully sensual and evocative.
The first part as I read it paints a picture with great imagery of a scientist as a lover whose eyes are as adept at getting inside his lovers glass skin as any microscope, he wants to record his viewings of her as if by photographs in his mind , it reads to me like literally he wants to get under her skin to the core
She who is a virgin with glassy skin which may refer back to the way he can see through her appears to be enticing him with automated verse a kind of sci fi reference perhaps .
Offering herself as honey, as wine as Oreiros which besides being the name of Orpheus’ father also means dream as I have learnt today, she invites him to drink of her sex until he is drunk defying and shattering all sciences and myths .

The second part introduces her as the first Eve Adams second wife after Lilith and she wonders at his ability to forget her so easily , the one that came before the Eve who became the mother of the world and humanity .
She is the one of uncontrollable tears who was borne of blood and gore from his entrails with a brain intricate as a clockwork maze, who he rejected on sight
She begs to be touched there which I assume is asking for sexual contact , as she knows she was never made for procreation as the other second Eve became the mother of humanity .
Im reading the kernel of the living city as being the centre of her sexual being .
She wants his mouth on her sex and the kisses denied in love as she was rejected when he couldn’t look at her after he saw her made from his intestines, she asks him to not follow the teaching of the Gods named in the next stanza .
Glass bodied Tristessa could be reference to sadness in Spanish or the Kerouac character the young prostitute offering herself for sex .
She is willing to die after sex , cos she she feels there is no more to be said of her story her songbook is completed and new worlds and wars is where the future lies and the poem closes by laying to rest the wifes Lilith and Eve and this dream of the First Eve the glass Tristessa .
Closing with a thought provoking question Is the Mystery more beautiful that the truth??
Now that she has shown herself and the microscopic view has been taken is the truth less attractive ………………………
It reads as a dream experience , he has the lover who is a glass figure who he is fascinated by and wants to record everything about her as his scientific mind demands she is offering herself to him as Adam her husband who rejected her , she just wants sex as love is denied her and she feels she was a mystery before and now that they have been together and her myths can be put to rest she wonders if the mystery or the reality were the better thing to have .
Hope I haven’t misconstrued your intentions as I read this fab piece my Habibi , another piece of fascinating artistry from the poet extraordinaire whose talent intellect , passion ,heart and soul come together to create this intriguing write combining science and mythology and eroticism in enthralling the reader with this piece written with great imagery , great language choices , scintillating sensuality and erotica giving a powerful delightful reading experience for this (human) reader for sure .Love it and as always if I need to edit / delete please just say my Habibi
Thanks for posting this and inviting me to read
There ends this Rant Habibi
Love Mar xxxXxxx

As the poem concerns the First Eve and Adam had three wives Lilith, the First Eve and Eve herself that we know so well. I was thinking of changing the title for The First Eve. Though the current title is perhaps more poetic sounding it might be misleading but I’ve been told in the past not to give too much away too soon. What do you think? So glad you loved my poem that means so much xxx

author comment

I liked espec the reference to Malcom X in Mecca in the first verse. I’ve not listened to this brand of music for a long time as mostly I tend to listen to trad or jazz from many aspects from Louis Armstrong to the greats like John Coltrane or Miles Davis. There is a Jewish rap musician called Matisyahu that I like immensely because his lyrics are spiritual too. I enjoy the Pogues immensely and Bruce Springsteen and of course Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and a bit of Tom Waits cause he feels like a kind of beat poet. Sinead O’Connor released an album of old style music a trad album called Sean-Nos Nua my favourite track is an Irish language piece synonymous with the Easter Rising in ireland in 1916 called Oro, Se Do Bheatha’ Bhaile I’ll find a lip if you’d like it’s quite melodic besides the connotations. It speaks about the nation of Ireland as a woman suffering in chains waiting for her spiritual strength to return can be seen as a metaphor or a woman in general seen through a modern prism of any woman suffering the lack of freedoms that all souls should enjoy as a natural right. It also references Granuaile in English Grace O’Malley the pirate queen of Connaught who fought for Irish rights in the time of Elizabeth the first xxx

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