Paul Amlehn
THE MARRIAGE OF THE ANIMAL AND THE DIVINE
—an opera by Paul Amlehn—
1: I See You In the Forever
Only in the first hours of the night
Can I transform myself into human form
While the male dove is busy
With the twelve dead.
Numb
Or
Foam-like.
I see you in the forever.
2: Silent Remembering
Silent remembering
I, close to you
Ever more ignoble and supine
Against the wall of the reddening sky.
Flayed name
Ancient evil transposed in present time
Resolute grid of the user's body
Addicted to nothingness.
Precise form of accident
You from death
The brutal enigma of your smite
On the slopes with powder of coral
In hideous night.
3: The Siren Calls
You are my little baby.
Come to me.
I'll take care of you.
I won't let anyone hurt you.
You have always
Looked for something of me
In the world
And now you have found me.
Here I am
Waiting for you.
4: I Was There Tomorrow
This night wounds time.
Shall I silently call you?
You silently answer.
Still heard.
Still felt.
You are not too late.
I was there tomorrow.
Noxious windless night
Subtle enigmas loiter
Where the sense trespass.
Oh, that look in your eye.
It's true.
The lie.
5: The Snow of Your Name
North
Towards the white pole,
South
Towards the red heron,
The pulse beats wild and straight.
Beloved muse,
Threshold of my longing,
It is you who makes my soul flicker
Like a curtain of stars.
In the well of time the years multiply their
swarm.
O, You,
My loveless traitor,
Must you torture me still?
Open my chest
You will see it is full of snow
The snow of your name
Covering stamens of blood.
I will make you feel
What you do not want to feel.
...Seen for the last time.
6: The White Raisin and the Birth Machine
I'm still unable to get a grip on my feelings.
I don't know what to do with the feelings.
I can't process them.
The bones of her broken body
Are the grains of wheat and barley
Harvested by the plow.
The sperm is the plowman and harvester
Who cuts the wheat and barley
And the bullock who turns the earth in the
field.
If I can just get one of these ladies
To eat the white raisin
Then the birth-machine
Will release, unleash,
A million of my babies...
7: Radius Radius It Is Enough
I like prAna!
Radius radius it is enough
For God
And man’s
Outrage.
An astronaut named Platt.
We can come out
When the shadows
Cover the cracks.
Every little breeze
Used to whisper Louise.
Murder, murder, murder.
And the dreamer’s long tooth
Which is pulled out
Is the penis.
Open this up
And break it
So I can touch you.
8: The Omnipresent Accident
The center of existence is now the accident's
dwelling place, it is no longer confined to
the periphery, in the face of a prevailing
wave or wall of logic; it has transformed
into the guiding principle, consuming the
very principles it once adhered to and was
subjugated by. It is no longer the despised
fragment, the detested particle, the
deplored iota. It is The All and The Every
and The At-Onement, it is The Existential
Mirage and The Ontological Enigma.
And I reach you from a distant star
showering your pale and anxious face with
multicolored sparks.
Spread the word. This is no place for a baby
boy or a baby girl. Here, where flesh
circulates, at full throttle. Here, where
damage accumulates, hastily apace.
Mother, don't be shy! Put your bare
aristocratic foot up onto the car dashboard
so I can get better access to your womb, to
your pudendal dewlap, your delicate little
glutton.
9: Walk Backwards Into the Future With Me
Walk backwards
Into the future with me.
State of nerves, nexus of
Silent anguished howls
Complete bodily surrender.
The story begins anew...
Repeats in prismatic variations...
Walk backwards into the future with me.
I scan the mask.
I span the mask.
10: Love Opens onto Unknown Horizons
Love opens onto unknown horizons.
North... north...
Love opens onto unknown horizons.
Fluttering of a heart returning to the
beatless origin.
11: Yeshua Dances
Rush, Adonai,
Come dance with me,
Spiralling
On pyrotechnic inclines,
In unforgettable gusts of light.
Go north
Towards the white pole
Go south
Towards the red head
Heron
The pulse beats wild and
And straight.
Be loved
Beloved one
Exigent muse
Threshold of my longing
It is you
Who makes my soul flicker
Like a curtain of stars.
12: Intimate Injuries
Saccading
The slipstream,
The smooth part
Is un-
Sired.
You are mine
And
Are not mine.
A procession of former lifetimes
Leading us
Into the here and now.
Intimate injuries
Bring us
Ever closer.
13: In the Orchard of Crystal Jars
Ocular
Ocular
Ocular
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la
En tu la.
(In you the).
Eye.
Eye é(toile).
(Eye star).
Né ton
Con, que bonne.
(Born your
Cunt, that good).
Est-ce que je ne serai jamais à toi ?
(Will I ever not be yours?)
Bridges.
Bridges.
Build.
Bridges.
Bridges.
Burn.
Bridge é la seat
(Bridge there seat)
Full of tumult
De ici
(From here).
In the orchard of crystal jars
The boys turned into pleasure sacks
And perturbed undearly lovers
Dewy for a pornographic glance.
14: I’m Swimming In You
I'm swimming in the window.
God, let her in.
I'm swimming in the widow.
God, let me come in
To this flesh
System
Upside down.
Women are
The only
Way in.
I'm scared, maman.
I'm so scared.
I'm swimming in you.
Listen now.
15: Orpheus (I Descend Again)
And I descend again
Magnetically
Drawn
Towards a dense silence
Silence broken
Only
By the dark beat
Of my blood.
And I descend again.
O me ill, my I
Descend again
In search of you.
Orpheus I am
And I descend again
In search of you.
Fathomless...
16: Run To Me
Run to me
Flee from me
Run to me.
Disconnect from desire
It's hard to hear the lie
When the liar
Is so beautiful.
You can write
You can write
A thousand years
You can see
You can be
A thousand years
From now
From now.
Sentimental guises
Will come into fashion
Sentimental guises
Will cover their shame.
Run to me
Flee from me
Run to me.
You can write
You can light
A thousand years
You can see
You can be
A thousand years
From now
From now.
You're espying me
You're denying me
You're inside of me
From now
From now.
Paul Amlehn is an interdisciplinary artist, currently based in Auckland, New Zealand. He works in the mediums of literature, music, visual art, theater, opera, and film. He has collaborated with Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Ulrich Krieger (Lou Reed), Chuck Hammer (David Bowie), David Van Tieghem (Laurie Anderson), Susan Stenger (John Cale), Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno), Eberhard Kranemann (Kraftwerk), Thomas Stern (Einsturzende Neubauten), Julia Kent (Antony and the Johnsons), Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), Mick Rossi (Philip Glass Ensemble), Jeff Zeigler (Kronos Quartet), and many others.