Poem 74

Written in 1984 during my time in the Original Composition course and included in my final folio … an incantation, meditation, a mesmerising summoning aiming to take the reader into an altered dream state …

… something of a riddle too – some in the class thought it was about a body in the bush … but no, Busu is a tree …

… the name jumped out at me when reading four paragraphs of something and noticing the capital letter of each spelled out B-U-S-U … then I just had to figure out who or what Busu was …

Busu

In a house of vines
and heavy-lidded flowers
sat Busu
and Busu slept the sleep of bees
between bricks
in autumn
a stem wound round one foot
and Busu slept the sleep of a frog
burrowed beneath the mud
beneath the water
and the vines flowered
around Busu
and through Busu
and Busu slept
in the warmth of spines
and drowsy blood
of the hedgehog
until a leaf looked out at an eye
and Busu woke
stretching up
to take birds
for attendants
and the bees woke
to cloud in Busu's hair
and the hedgehog rolled
from the foot of Busu
and the toe of Busu
touched the cold frog
below

the blood in Busu
slowed
clear and chill
its movement
almost still
almost
still
Busu fell
far
within
the vast
impenetrable
tree sleep