JAMES GARDNER

 

Adam and Eve’s alleles

 

aahhlll eeelll liminal
la mas nbhal 
allele annealing
lamé malus pumila

discord for the fairest

parallel alleles
alannah
pa(i)red apple peels appeal
two belles in equality
cast doubt beyond a shadow
thrown by aspects of locality 

bookmatched maple macle
inky Western blot
dancing walnut kernels
freeze frame. Rorschach. money shot. 

drosophila lallation

anaphora
anaphora lophophora
mellow malus mitis
malolactic mulch

ripe ampoules of asphodel 
well 
what’s in cider-sozzled semaphore?

ochre codon

include an inaner idea

nonsense.
spam
in three 
split 
pair sons
Nobodaddy’s
sugardaddy
ampersand

sugar spines entwined
either was the other’s mine

our eye-beams twisted and did thread
our eyes upon one double string

chiasma

twin
crossed-wire threesome reels ’em off the unwound spools
a play of scions

either way the other’s mine

cactus

solanum sosomeum
so lustful in the dust full 
when ripe Pearl springs from clay
mudwrestling, pestling mescaline, nestling in 
Pomona’s pep talk autocuban heels.
He kneels.
She sloughs off her snakeskinflick shoes
scores six-pack abs
peyote tabs
splice. 
In
a cruel onyx bodice I 
linger longer langsam 
lapsus linguae
quince quim lingam

doldrum

costermonger
lilo

slumbering sequence of knots and splines
eigenvalue eiderdown
lilibulero allozyme

Xanax for angst

Brazilian wax

munchkin macaques

mess of ages cleft for thee
quantum chasm
unspools me

Skyme’s kernel
opal codon
orchard

genuine aura in Iceland
maps nonsense 

…fingers need to
knit that subtle knot which makes us…
happily culpable wind-up merchants
selling our souls, 
downundercutting fern frond Eden
faking the falling
yanking the counterfeit crank
blowing the gaff down stitched-up winding sheets of twisted fivers 
forging aheadspring till the phony line goes dead.
Bye.

By threading sugar granules on a string along 
she passes on to unknown stranded messengers
her lifeline

amber codon

cue a nun. Naiad lingerie. 
three pairs of braces.
nonsense
spam
melisma

bruise blue braeburn
Pearmain offspring
cleave 
from some strange tree 
a germ 
they pen a breach 
and deep into the solid grain 
a path
with wedges cloven
slip in this 
conundrum
codicil

Aleph null allele
alannah

leaf upon linden
twist of lime
chalaza with a C spells
viva!

hail true source 

brilliant errors 
beaming down
the faultlines

messages 
lost in the male

unzip codes split spiral strands and spits—
such fruitful slips
passed Adam and Eve’s alleles.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Gardner is a composer who was born in Liverpool, England. His early experiences were in rock, and he co-founded the group Apollo 440. Since then, writing dots-on-paper music has been his main activity. He moved to New Zealand in 1994, and directs the contemporary music ensemble 175 East. Gardner’s compositions have been played worldwide, and he has recently written and presented programmes on the music of Zappa, Cage, Nancarrow and Xenakis for Concert FM.