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Chard deNiord: Inanna and Dumuzi
Dumuzi to Inanna
Oh how the river
rushed through the bed of our bed.
I was a swallow who mastered
the air by cutting its hem with the razor
in my tail. I was the salmon
who solved the rapids by finding
the current that ran inside them
the opposite way. I was the man
who talked in his sleep to his beloved
as so many others who was also
one. I was the willow on the bank
that soughed with its chorus of leaves.
I was the breeze that rippled
the water in lyrics that followed
each other. I was
the swimmer beside my beloved
who woke as I slept in the river
beside her. I was the man
who talked in his sleep
as so many others in all
his plurals.
~~
Inanna to Dumuzi
The sky conjures you all day
into clouds that sack my heart
to the point I hear the growls
and howls of the beasts
they form in the guise of you
when they appear on sky’s
cerulean screen that deepens
to even a deeper blue
when it isn’t clear to the point
you fall like rain from out of
that blue to the floor of my heart
that floods with grief and dreams
of us not only awake but alive
when it does.
~
Ed. Note: The sacred Sumerian story of Inanna and Dumuzi, two thousand years older than the Bible, is tender, erotic, shocking, political and compassionate. It is thought to be the world’s first epic love poem.
~~~
Chard deNiord is the author of six books of poetry including In My Unknowing (University of Pittsburgh Press 2020). He is Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Providence College.
Copyright 2025 Chard deNiord
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Just beautiful, Chard!
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” you fall like rain from out of
that blue “!!
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Heartstopping!
To think of this ancient exchange in its 4000 year old context conveys the timelessness of our passions, their import and immediacy. Being also a visual artist makes me wonder about “Cerulean” its modernity and how we’ve had all of human history to describe blue. How fabulous to have this on my screen this second morning of my workdays!
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Thanks, Sean. Like you, I admire the ancient civilizations, and the Sumerians were probably the most interesting. They invented the alphabet, astronomy, central government, empire… as well as some of the most enduring poems and stories to come down to us.
So glad to have this re-singing of the ancient songs in a contemporary voice.
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Oh, the old gods, archetypes for everything that seems to have flattened a little since then (except for greed and warfare). Chard DeNiord conjures up the original, passionate, unapologetic lust and love and wraps it all into mother earth and all who sail in her like the story of creation. “I was the salmon / who solved the rapids by finding / the current that ran inside them / the opposite way.”
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Well-said, Rose Mary!
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