WEBVTT

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The next poem is
about oriental rugs.

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One of my friends in
the art department

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is a connoisseur of them.

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It's called The Turkoman,
which is the name

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of a particular kind of rug.

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And one of the interesting
things about many oriental rugs

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is that they're actually
prayer rugs, especially

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the smaller ones.

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And at the top, or
at one end, there

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is a little symbol, which
may look like a comb,

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it may look like a
lamp or a chapel.

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Actually, what it
is, is the spot

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at which the worshipper should
touch his head to the rug

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when the minarets bells ring,
or whatever time they're

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supposed to pray.

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And this appears in the poem.

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It's called a mihrab.

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Every Turkish rug is a garden.

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There you see the border.

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The wall of intricate bone.

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Rows of candelabra.

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Botha, as they called him.

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Trees, or as some
say, the mark a fist

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makes when slammed
down in blood.

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Coming out along the
canals, running south.

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The young noblemen, beards just
trimmed, smelling of lotion,

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converse as they move
through the orchard.

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Look, then turn
their backs to us.

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Ignoring the one
decapitated head,

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the face of a lion roaring
through the branches.

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Each carries, neatly
folded over one arm,

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the towel still wet
that he bathed with.

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That toward the proper hour
when they leave all at once

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in a crowd by the
northeast gate,

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they will smooth
on the hot sand,

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like gentlemen
spreading their wash.

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Kneel there.

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As behind, an idiot camel
arches his muscled neck

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through the foliage, spits.

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Then the son, a boy swimmer,
brown as a paper bag,

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goes shooting, naked like a cold
trombone late for a concert.

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Over the field of stones,
casting their shadows away.

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Stars, dinner bells start
to ring over the mountains.

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They brace their hands
against the Earth.

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And the mihrabs,
the little churches,

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pull their heads down
as if to eat them.

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In each, a chapel, a
lamp, a comb appears.

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Strokes their sleek
hair into the ground.

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