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Jason Harmon

Jason Harmon has previously been published in Can We Have Our Ball Back? and Jacket. He has applied for Spalding University MFA in the Fall term. He works as a Systems Analyst.

paradise loft

OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast       tacit     simplication

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,                      omnipresent    

influence stalled             reluctance to wreak death

               slow dollop’s yolk                   where resides

With loss of Eden , till one greater Man’s          immersion       

Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [ 5 ]   

Sing Heav'nly Muse,that on the secret              top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire         conspire we have omitted

               register the felling

That Shepherd, who first taught [or caught] the chosen Seed, then disbursed

In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth

flowered Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill [ 10 ] bemused fretting crucial

                                       singling

Delight thee [detail] more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd        again flowered

Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence      innocence

Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,                        not that there’s anything

That with no middle flight intends to soar

                                       Obviously sour

Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues [ 15 ]          ruses roses

Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.      hold on to yer hat

And chiefly Thou                      O Spirit, listen up big guy       that dost prefer

Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,              womanly         obscure

Instruct me, for Thou know'st;              we all desire                            please

know me            yes that’s it      right there

                                       Thou from the first hearse the last swaddling

Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread [ 20 ] as if this image

               could’st do away        could sway

Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss                  feet dangling

And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark     scary, scary places

   cookies in the cupboard          golem in the basement and the trap

door

Illumin, what is low raise and support;

That to the highth of this great Argument        is this argument rhetoric is

woman the treasure man the misuse the gender of tropical

                           author’s

   breach

I may assert Eternal Providence, [ 25 ]

And justifie the wayes

                           oh do

                           show us plain

                                       of God to men.

Tell you what

               how about

                           from here on out

               we apply this

on our own

copyright © Jason Harmon