Poems by P.D. Newman.
Art illustrations Mitchell Pluto
Anamnesis
Barley or mead or wine or corn
Pour out from my goatskin
And into my bull’s horn!
To pieces by the Titans was Dionysus torn!
Lo! A man must die
For him to be twice-born!
For P.K., a Poem
Close the doors of your virgin ears.
Shut in your mute wits, mortal.
Down we go to Hell, past nine arches fell–dell, deep well–portal.
Gates of bronze, unlock at my knock.
Greet me goddess, immortal.
Receive me kindly, O Nestis, that we may share a chortle.
Capot
Tell us.
Tell us what happens
‘Tween sunrise and noon
When the aged oak snaps
‘Neath the weight of the moon
Tell us.
Tell us what makes
An awakening so frail
Close its webbed eyes
To Infinity’s vale
Tell us.
Tell us what comes
Of the sad one who goes
To the old raven maid
For to learn what she knows
Tell us.
Tell us what wonders
Dare lurk here in the deep
Shielded from all but those
Who fall prey to sleep
Tell us.
P.D. Newman is an independent researcher located in the southern US, specializing in the history of the use of entheogenic substances in religious rituals and initiatory rites. He is the author of the books, Alchemically Stoned: The Psychedelic Secret of Freemasonry, Angels in Vermilion: The Philosophers’ Stone from Dee to DMT, and the forthcoming title, Day Trips and Night Flights: Anabasis, Katabasis, and Entheogenic Ekstasis in Myth and Rite.
SULFUR 