2018 9/30

(38.) HALPHAS, or MALTHUS. - The Thirty-eighth Spirit is Halphas, or Malthous (or Malthas). He is a Great Earl, and appeareth in the Form of a Stock-Dove. He speaketh with a hoarse Voice. His Office is to build up Towers, and to furnish them with Ammunition and Weapons, and to send Men-of-War19 to places appointed. He ruleth over 26 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is this, etc

Tower of armaments.

Of ivory, of lebanon looking towards damascus

Watch-tower of the north.

Grail-tower. Rook and elephant

Ruined tower on the plains of Shinar

and confusion of language

tower in the waste, childe roland to the darke tower came

dream tower of the city of the dead

Signal tower of a border kingdom

watchtower on the endless wall of “not us”

of war's thin ribbon, tower heaped with bodies

and all else fallen

war-engine heaped from the bodies of the dead

siege-tower, supply cache and missile silo

tower of the dead city, ladder of lights

chapel of mammon, smokestack tower

and lightening rod, temple and high altar,

mountain of fire

dove of the flood

hollow-tree, ring dove

dead dove in the desert.

Dove of the pentecostal fire

to be eaten in sacrament

dove of the lie of peace

descending eagle and snake on the stepped pyramid

butterflies and blood on the altar

dove of holocaust, of burnt offering

eagle on the stanchion of rome,

on a bomber's nose

black cross and double eagle

dove and tower

tower of wealth, and the hungry below

pigeons in the eaves

2018 8/30

PHENEX. - The Thirty-Seventh Spirit is Phenex (or Pheynix). He is a great Marquis, and appeareth like the Bird Phoenix, having the Voice of a Child. He singeth many sweet notes before the Exorcist, which he must not regard, but by-and-by he must bid him put on Human Shape. Then he will speak marvellously of all wonderful Sciences if required. He is a Poet, good and excellent. And he will be willing to perform thy requests. He hath hopes also to return to the Seventh Throne after 1,200 years more, as he said unto Solomon. He governeth 20 Legions of Spirits. And his Seal is this, which wear thou, etc

The burning house rebuilds itself in the dark.

Crawls back up from ash and mud

and the ghost-ship windows

of 1368 norfolk

light up the crazily tilted mailbox

the ditch, the gravel half moon drive

the mushroom rotten bench

inside, the rusted piano wires

unburn to bright silver

tune themselves,

play “beautiful dreamer”

in ponderous time

play “shall we gather at the river”

the crowd of radios sing hosannas

to be back from the dark,

the flame crawls back into the electrical outlets

and coils to sleep inside the Cathode ray tubes

and welding tanks

the rags unrot and sinuously writhe on the bedroom floors

the old papers and glass, the sewing machines and mattresses

the washers and dryers and a hundred kirby vacuums, the broken mirrors

crawl out of the catfish pond

and slink across the grass

rank kitchen of moss covered pots

the bones of a thousand mice

My old jacket with the silver-sprayed Anarchy sign

my rain-warped Rembrandts pulled from the garbage

my golden fish swim in their drawer

my weed, my bottle rockets, my Jack Daniels

pepto pink walls and dog-smelling carpet worn thin

inside, I am dead, and singing.

2018 7/30

(36.) STOLAS, or STOLOS. - The Thirty-sixth Spirit is Stolas, or Stolos. He is a Great and Powerful Prince, appearing in the Shape of a Mighty Raven at first before the Exorcist; but after he taketh the image of a Man. He teacheth the Art of Astronomy, and the Virtues of Herbs and Precious Stones. He governeth 26 Legions of Spirits; and his Seal is this, which is, etc.

black birds wheel against the sun

scream in the tall corn

sit implacable on the porch

when I left the dead city for good

lining the powerlines in the not yet morning

a murder-choir in the trees beside the baseball field

choir, imprecation of angels,

blue joke about doves

Caruso, our schoolyard singer

gleaming irridescent and starless

tapping on the windows, clever thief

instructor of children

thought and memory,

sitting in the fork with me

for hours, unconcerned

jewel-eyes shining in the forever-summer light

while I hung in the weeping tree

above the rusting washers and bicycle wheels

wasps and brown eyed susans

the fly-bloated possums and eyeless raccoons

and their roadside ministers

thieves of corn and silver

what have you taught me?

2018 6/30

(35.) MARCHOSIAS. - The Thirty-fifth Spirit is Marchosias. He is a Great and Mighty Marquis, appearing at first in the Form of a Wolf18 having Gryphon’s Wings, and a Serpent’s Tail, and Vomiting Fire out of his mouth. But after a time, at the command of the Exorcist he putteth on the Shape of a Man. And he is a strong fighter. He was of the Order of Dominations. He governeth 30 Legions of Spirits. He told his Chief, who was Solomon, that after 1,200 years he had hopes to return unto the Seventh Throne. And his Seal is this, to be made and worn as a Lamen, etc.

kingdoms on the border of sleep,

fever-mapped vertiginous forests

and rivers that subdivide into endless deltas

endless, autumn hedgerow of spindle sticks and worm-eaten flutes

great stone head and monument of fire

crowd of stars reflected in a tar-black pool

lightening illuminated stone pillar, tower of bottles

each have their minor lord,

great,rain swollen midden of trenches and bloated bodies

fallen bridge, cracked road

forever burning house, empty city

and night in which the slow, ponderous things

scrape their heads on the firmament

where the red blood bell squats on the highway

where the buzz-saw lights rip the world open

great toothed mouth of a door

whirl of dying machines

in corridors lit by sputtering lights

the count of the 4 am hospital

the king of the all night bus stations
Marquis de Carabas, sharp clawed and full of whispers

among the wheatfields and empty train tracks

the ruined carnival, the warehouse of rotting crates

the faceless man, the cat with too many legs,

the eyes in the stairwell, white cat, dazed ox, black dog

attendant lords and petty nobility

of the court of hell,

of the wolf pits

of the knife edge between worlds

of the dark, rank chambers of my sleeping

2018 5/30

(34.) FURFUR. - The Thirty-fourth Spirit is Furfur. He is a Great and Mighty Earl, appearing in the Form of an Hart with a Fiery Tail. He never speaketh truth unless he be compelled, or brought up within a triangle, Ò. Being therein, he will take upon himself the Form of an Angel. Being bidden, he speaketh with a hoarse voice. Also he will wittingly urge Love between Man and Woman. He can raise Lightnings and Thunders, Blasts, and Great Tempestuous Storms. And he giveth True Answers both of Things Secret and Divine, if commanded. He ruleth over 26 Legions of Spirits.

The creaking voice of the lying angel

crooning, owl song of my father's

old tinsel in the tree's branches, shining

as the ice melt gluts the creeks

onion grass and ramps crawling from the dead world

the truth, spoken under complusion

whatever did not rot in the soft wet winter

the house burned away to ash

and the toad in the well-head

cafish swimming over the old washer

the jagged edge of fill and trash and mosquito larvae in old buckets

and the ceaseless rain through the oaks

no confession in the lines of his hieratic scrawl

serif-less, scrambling line on an envelope

of silence, of blood-money

praise buzzards and their naked heads,

their monklike tonsure,

the way they eat the hearts of roadkill deer

like a kind of prayer, head bobbing, wings outstretched

2018 4/30

(33.) GAAP. - The Thirty-third Spirit is Gaap. He is a Great President and a Mighty Prince. He appeareth when the Sun is in some of the Southern Signs, in a Human Shape, going before Four Great and Mighty Kings, as if lie were a Guide to conduct them along on their way. His Office is to make men Insensible or Ignorant; as also in Philosophy to make them Knowing, and in all the Liberal Sciences. He can cause Love or Hatred, also he can teach thee to consecrate those things that belong to the Dominion of AMAYMON his King. He can deliver Familiars out of the Custody of other Magicians, and answereth truly and perfectly of things Past, Present, and to Come. He can carry and re-carry men very speedily from one Kingdom to another, at the Will and Pleasure of the Exorcist. He ruleth over 66 Legions of Spirits, and he was of the Order of Potentates.


In my father's house,
books survived the flood
I cut the pages apart with a knife
the books themselves
swollen, broken backed
almost inconceivable now

To think of information
as a thing that lived in objects
as a scarcity, to be mourned
in burning libraries,
in my father's warped, labeless albums
he saved from the fire
and I played, warbling and slow

finding tracks that could be saved
information that was not corrupt
The memory palace, and what inhabits it
the thing that shirks the eye
rats and roaches of memory that will not die

a house, before the VFD burned it down for practice
the living room a litter, a nest of tattered books
dead mills and manuals, parchment yellow and soaked with rain
a schematic pinned to a wall, eaten by silverfish
mice nesting in chewed papers and old photos

2018 3/30

ASMODAY.--The Thirty-second Spirit is Asmoday, or Asmodai. He is a Great King, Strong, and Powerful. He appeareth with Three Heads, whereof the first is like a Bull, the second like a Man, and the third like a Ram; he bath also the tail of a Serpent, and from his mouth issue Flames of Fire. His Feet are webbed like those of a Goose. He sitteth upon an Infernal Dragon, and beareth in his hand a Lance with a Banner. He is first and choicest under the Power of AMAYMON, he goeth before all other. When the Exorcist bath a mind to call him, let it be abroad, and let him stand on his feet all the time of action, with his Cap or Headdress off; for if it be on, AMAYMON will deceive him and call all his actions to be bewrayed. But as soon as the Exorcist seeth Asmoday in the shape aforesaid, he shall call him by his Name, saying: "Art thou Asmoday?" and he will not deny it, and by-and-by he will bow down unto the ground. He giveth the Ring of Virtues; he teacheth the Arts of Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, and all handicrafts absolutely. He giveth true and full answers unto thy demands. He maketh one Invincible. He showeth the place where Treasures lie, and guardeth it. He, amongst the Legions of AMAYMON governeth 72 Legions of Spirits Inferior. His Seal is this which thou must wear as a Lamen upon thy breast, etc.

We stood on the rooftop, bedsheets flapping around us

a chalked circle, white pillar candles

the town of Athens, Ohio

laid out below us, with it’s haunted graveyards

secret tunnels, it’s hangman’s tree

The angels of the hours laid out on paper cards
around the names of god

the pentacles, the mirrors

the shoplifted incense cones smouldering away

drunken kids on court street howled at the moon

the townies chanted Enochian, Latin, Greek

drank stolen wine, smoked shake

ate speed, read Barret, and Crowley and Cavendish

called out Aeshma Daeva, Asmodeus, Asmoday

The demon of the book of Tobit

that haunts the marriage bed

is driven from the home by the smell of burning fish

nodded in the candlelight, his chimera heads

flickering in the candles

ram and bull horned

he stood in the triangle of evocation

spirit of the wounding spear,

that sword salve, that tendril of unholy desire

to wrap around my heart

the broken tip of a spear, the unhealing

wound of my sickness,

of never-enough love,

grail-king riddled with poison, magus

dead thing on a throne

in a room of hoarded things

worm in my core

2018 2/30

(31.) FORAS. - The Thirty-first Spirit is Foras. He is a Mighty President, and appeareth in the Form of a Strong Man in Human Shape. He can give the understanding to Men how they may know the Virtues of all Herbs and Precious Stones. He teacheth the Arts of Logic and Ethics in all their parts. If desired he maketh men invisible, and to live long, and to be eloquent. He can discover Treasures and recover things Lost. He ruleth over 29 Legions of Spirits

Foras:

• forīs (in Vulgar Latin)

From Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- (“door, gate”); compare foris, forum

That which is outside the door

that waits, and does not knock

the clatter of branches against a window

the call of cats, of animals in the walls

tatter of trash bags in an old fence

strings of wire singing in the wind

amongst the trash

animals root among old bones

and rags, and grudging green life

crawls from the cold ground

 the ring of firelight fails in the dark

home of lost things

2018 1/30

The Thirtieth Spirit is Forneus. He is a Mighty and

Great Marquis, and appeareth in the Form of a Great

 Sea-Monster. He teacheth, and maketh men wonderfully

 knowing in the Art of Rhetoric. He causeth men to have a

Good Name, and to have the knowledge and

understanding of Tongues. He maketh one to be

beloved of his Foes as well as of his Friends. He

governeth 29 Legions of Spirits, partly of the

Order of Thrones, and partly of that of Angels.

In the deep pools of the river

there are catfish, big as a volkswagon

every small town tells

how the divers go down

near the dam, in the deep black water

come back grey haired

never dive again

in the deep pools and bogs

broken gold, and men with their throats slit

fed to the deep place

to the dark water

the river's feast of heedless children

the monstrous shudder of leviathan

of the serpent that girdles the world

the old mother hag, and kelpie-horse

that lives in the well, in the crying oven

foundation of the deep, the keys of the mouth of hell

Fornus, meaning oven

meaning foundry and refining fire