So let me now read these Egyptian poems.
The series was written from June to December of 1977.
And this is the work that really precedes a reading.
The Egyptian Poems are based on very--
very loosely based on the rituals
described in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The Opening of the Mouth.
The dead are our children and we must coax them to eat.
Pointing to the mouth, touching the food,
the bull's leg, the heart.
The dead are our gods.
We must pry open their mouths, they cannot live without
our sustenance.
We bring hammers and chisels, we crack their throats.
Our words fly open above our heads,
stone clouds of owls, lines of water, rippling geese.
The gods are our children: eat.
Eat the heart, the leg, the thigh all the parts,
take into the darkness of your mouth.
This eye, it will be enough light.
It will light you forever.