2416
7.223
13.viii.26
all
teeth
ekphrastic
for Si On’s ‘The Magic of Women and Other Stories’
suppose a body
of shattered mirrors
so the skull shows branded
ribs
tell
itch
smooth where you see into the wall
and so perhaps you too reveal
dangle of chains, innids plastic
mostly we’re on fire
words beaten from a grief
or love spew
a dysphoric flower
lolly, gun, grip
the slippers empty now
mainly, though, the teeth
2415
7.222
12.viii.26
life
is a tree
always was
a tree where I’m not
and a tree where I am
fingers of light fell through
a sky lit day, night
more than one
but many
so the seasons for the record
so a city is these ruins made
life is a tree however
saw myself, puddle up
we, too
a voice lost
claws gone
in among branches
see the brickwork, paint gone
a song like smoke
just a breeze to take home
we will build another tree, they say
who’ll see through how?
a tree was always there
some come from it, bow
as limbs to a breeze
and gather
all that is lost
to the air
to soil
sometimes out of the crack in a cliff
from nowhere
thin as air
the seed puts out
with gravity
rises as it falls
life is a tree
shows how to become
a pause and the rings run round
the very stars in awe
a tree shines
in the hours unkept
shows what it is to be
2414
7.221
11.viii.26
the
world is snow
ekphrastic
for Józef Chelmónski’s 1868 ‘Four Horses in fron of a Cottage’
the village is winter
red skirt and scarf
the kind of joke you shouldn’t tell
better the shoes with the holes than none
horses tread the day to slush
bare trees and a smoke grey sky to bury
leaning into the breath you can see
dark of a doorway
and distance is dark
bells ring far for a doom
snow is clean
where no one goes
there is a further desolation
night is to fall on these faces
dogs leap for their joy
2413
7.220
10.viii.26
my
imaginary friend
drops in from who-knows-where?
or they were there when I arrived
no one else can see
my special friend
my secret friend
friend of my imagining
I give a name
it’s not his hers
and no one else will know
come from a sky
from the city of bridges
come from a silent sea
it’s fun we’re at together
it’s friend who has imagined me
helps with my homework too
by virtue of an absence here
we have an understanding
comes in the form of a game
on Sunday or any other almost
often wake up to tell a joke
the antlers just for frolic
I write this message in a bottle
so very far out
so as to say
how one day we may go away
imaginary friend and I
we’ll wave the world goodbye
2412
7.219
9.viii.26
the
best place for a king is in the ground
something heavy for a lid
a king is not my hero
kings have a habit of cropping up
when you were quite sure they were gone
whatever good they might’s from might
how’s that a good thing?
yet kings remind us of what never was
how when the world was hale and whole
no hair out of place
there’s nostalgia for a sacred crown
kings have that quality of rumour
and may seem blameless after
kings get around the way of ghosts
some even with their heads chopped off
but more of them – many more – do the chopping
or have their chopping done for them
that was ever their way
the best place for a king is in the ground
it’s where your king’s best kept
best to let God save them
an unmarked grave is apt
2411
7.218
8.viii.26
ki
tudja, hogyan tanulhat bárki bármit is?
az egyik fejben képek vannak
a másikban szavak vannak
véletlenszerű állatok zajai
grimaszolnod kellene
reakciót vált ki
olyan, mintha megpróbálnád megérteni, hogyan jött a
szerelem
vagy hová tűnt az álom
mindenki itt az igazságot keresi
de
én szavakkal tévedtem
csak egy suttogás
ki tudja, hogyan kell megtanulni
járni, mászni?
a mélyvízbe dobnak
kidobnak a fészekből
látom a katasztrófa mértékét
hogyan világszerte
még nagyobb
ünnepélyes kötelesség
összeállni
az alkotás szentségével
talán megint senkivel sem beszélek?
most látom, hol a lépcsők
eltűnnek a felhőkben
előtte
csak felhők voltak
who
knows how anyone learns anything?
there are pictures in one head
there are words in another
the noises of random animals
make a face
get a reaction
it’s like trying to understrand how love came
or where the dream went
everyone here is guessing for truth
but
it was with words I got lost
just a whisper
who knows how to learn
to walk, to crawl?
they throw me in the deep end
they push me out of the nest
I see the scale of the catastrophe
how it is worldwide
even bigger
it’s a solemn duty
to consort with
the sacredness of making
perhaps I am speaking with no one again?
now I see where the stairs
disappear in the clouds
before
there were only clouds
