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A riddle for Kalki
Author/s: Marshall Weber, Kurt Allerslev, and C.K.Wilde
Edition: 1
Year: 2004
Price: Sold
Kalki is an avatar of the all-powerful Hindu God Vishnu; he appears at the end of the decadent age of Kali (which we are now in) and, on his vigilant horse Devadatta, slays all the world leaders who have fallen from grace thus seting the stage for the next blissful epoch - the age of Satya.
The poem confuses the characteristics of both Kalki and those he would slay in a meditation on violence and its relationship to the breach of social contracts.
The pages are Rives and Arches medium weight, the binding is a modified Vellum pamphlet sewn onto vellum tapes with silver birch (Betula pendula) bark endsheets were collected in Vermont (right after Ruby was born).
Allerslev and Wilde did the paintings and Weber did the calligraphy. The dyes and inks used are predominantly organic and include: Arbutus menziesii, commonly called Madrona in the Pacific Northwest (it's in the blueberry/cranberry family Ericaceae, and is a beautiful tree with thin, peeling, reddish bark, the bark was used for the dye and there are still bits of it adhered to pages in the book), Curcurma longa (turmeric), Capsicum annuum (paprika), and Coffea arabica (coffee), Theobroma cacao (chocolate) and Citrus limon (lemon) juice.
Finishing touches by Allerslev include the use of bleaches and sandpaper.
This book can be read at L.I.U.'s library.
MP3 of Marshall reading "Riddle for Kalki" (MP3, 2 MB)
A riddle for Kalki
You will not know me
I am the rifle shot cracking the windshield
of your car as it winds out of the dark curve
on a quiet wooded suburban highway
I am fear
You will not find me
I am the betrayal of children
I am deceit
You will not believe me
I am the land mine in your heart
I am the mote in your eye
You will not see me
I am the flame at your fuse
I am the eternally empty stare
You will not hear me approach
I am unspeakable
I am unspoken
I am speechless
You will not taste my breath
I am the beginning of drowning
I am the loss of control
You will not feel me pass
I am the trembling of shock
I am the great shattering
You will not affect me in any way
I am the history of trauma
I am the death of your mother and father
You will not learn my name
I am a spore
with a shell of guilty hate
and a germ of innocence
You will not recognize me
I am denial
I am ignorance
I am silence
I am torture
I am violation
I am fear
I am
the end.
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