[Poékwot] Apology of Genius (Mina Loy)

Ostracized as we are with God
The watchers of the civilized wastes
reverse their signals on our track

Lepers of the Moon
all magically diseased
we come among you
innocent
of our luminous sores

unknowing
how perturbing lights
our spirit
on the passion of Man
until you turn on us your smooth fools' faces
like buttocks bared in aboriginal mockeries

We are the sacerdotal clowns
who feed upon the wind and stars
and pulverous pastures of poverty

Our wills are formed
by curious disciplines
beyond your laws

You may give birth to us
or marry us
the chances of your flesh
are not our destiny

The cuirass of the soul
still shines –
And we are unaware if you confuse
such brief
corrosion with possession

In the raw caverns of the Increate
we forge the dusk of Chaos
to that impervious jewelry of the Universe
      – The Beautiful –

While to your eyes
a delicate crop
of criminal mystic immortelles
stands to the censor's scythe

Apology of Genius, poem by
Mina Loy, ca. 1922