Peter Marra

The Adoration of the Magi

A Yuletide Triptych

 

 

1.

 

It’s time to put up the Christmas tree

adorn it with fragile living creatures

 

Time to visit the department stores

see various displays of Human beings trapped (vicious in nature)

 

but it’s always viscous in her dreams

 

Schizo-Yuletide pieces of two

 

The magi screamed at the door of the manger at

the site of the alien child

 

They had been misdirected and spoke no more

 

While holding shadows between her fingertips,

A mother licked her lips and screamed

 

Snow angels slipped away

Transparent to many, they

wandered aimlessly through streets and back alleys

 

The necklace of hands was clasped at her throat

 

her sins were heavy - the drone of

prayers embarrassed her

 

The presents under the tree were starting to decay

The snowmen panted outside the window

 

Everything was awhirl and she couldn’t stop it

Sins of the parents burned into her brain

 

Mommy and daddy’s wardrobe lay tattered in the backyard

 

The wholesome meal was corrupted

Memories of the incident of the Holy Innocents

 

Daddy and Mommy’s faces were burning in the fireplace

More sources of energy for the never-ending yule log

 

Centaurs lost their thrones while wandering in the forest

In search of reproductive pleasure

 

Gifts from Herod rained down on the congregants

Emphasizing the betrayal smoldering in their collective brain

 

A vagabond took the infant and secluded themselves in the Catacombs

Waiting for the ransom

Hoping for the criminals

 

2.

 

Under a blue sky as the snow fell:

While making snow angels the

kidnapper committed suicide

 

His body transformed into honey and flies

A new transubstantiation

 

The limited noises of the Massacre Panel

Caused the landscape of her eyes to twist as she murdered her

husband and searched for her offspring

 

weeping in fulfillment at the event of recovery

without music

without pain

with only silence

 

External images were sketched

3 figures were generated

The painter lacerated her canvasses and discovered

another image under her skin

 

3.

 

Unrepentant and unforgiving

A partridge flew into shards of glass

 

The identifications of the bodies had commenced

As usual the cops were no help

 

They followed random footprints into the 1963 Bing Crosby Special

To be followed by the Perry Como Show

 

These played in the background as

the family opened their presents

 

These played in the background as

the nails were sharpened and the manger door was nailed shut

 

These played in the background as the self-immolation occurred

rumored to be a Fire from Heaven

 

While holding shadows between her fingertips,

A vixen licked her lips and shimmied her hips

 

Sins of the parents burned into her brain

The snowmen panted outside the window

 

We were unaware that these snowmen had teeth

Eyes burned outside the windows

 

 

Originally from Gravesend, Brooklyn, NYC, Peter Marra lived in the East Village from 1979 to 1993 at the height of the punk / no wave / art and music rebellion. He has had a lifelong fascination with Surrealism, Dadaism, and Symbolism, some of his favorite writers being Paul Eluard, Arthur Rimbaud, Tristan Tzara, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry Miller. Peter also cites Roger Corman and Russ Meyer as influences.

 

His earliest recollection of the writing process is, as a 1st grader, creating a children’s book with illustrations. The only memory he has of this project is a page that contained a crayon drawing of an airplane, caught in a storm. The caption read: “The people are on a plane. It is going to crash. They are very scared.” His parents were always disturbed by that 1st book.

 

A Dadaist and a Surrealist, Peter’s writings explore alienation, addiction, the function and misuse of love and attraction, the curse of secrets, the pain of victimization and the impact of multi-obsessions. He has had over 200 poems published either in print or online in over 25 journals.

 

Peter is the author of the poetry collection Peep-O-Rama ~ Sins of the Go-Go Girls (Hammer & Anvil Books, 2017). His other published works include approximate lovers (downtown materialaktion) from Bone Orchard Press and Vanished Faces (a performance of occult infections) from Writing Knights Press.

 

Website: www.angelferox.com