figures
1
there’s a horse rising out of the clouds
with three figures
above the harbour-like bridge
in the painting by Anthony Warnes
Alison Moyet sings
Only You
steak in soy sauce & red wine
pasta & mushrooms
a simple salad
2
a place to sit
near the skill-saw
by the stalling traffic
children screech
on a Saturday morning
signs slap you
in the face
the streets are dirty
men on the building site
shout to each other
people whistle from taxis
bicyclists almost assault
pedestrians
the same old tune plays
on the radio
and a staple gun -
after a while the street becomes
a peaceful place
3
in the space of the other, reading
the word Brigadoon –
a cottage in Cornwall -
that distant harmonic
someone likes themes
1
in the late afternoon
pause from television
he lies on the bed
and takes a book of poetry
reads one poem aloud
and is satisfied
he lives for that
for nothing more
than the pleasing succession
of words on a line
not understood
not all familiar
2
a sphere called planet
reduced to a ball
reflection of the outside world
through net curtains onto
cellophane plastic covering letters
a plate with crumbs holds
the matrix for the next meal
an empty cup is full of something
but don’t look for meaning
there is
3
the floor is well-liked
in the last resort sat on
in the first choice meditated
he apologised for words
I eat cannibals
heroic music
it’s time
to do all you’ve been intending
don’t over-edit
the world’s call for authenticity
you see them lurking
in the bars for something real
there’s a man
in this pub
who never smiles
shakes his hand at people
I said hello to him
and not again
until I was sober
must I buy another drink now
can’t I sit and watch the game
no ulterior motives
The Man from Omokoroa
he reads of Coleridge
the Man from Porlock
and the loss of a poem
a man in the audience shouts
“that was the poetry”
(the loss and the rupture)
he doesn’t shut up,
the man in the audience,
though the poet acknowledges his quip
after wine & cheese
the man in the audience
is quiet. that’s the poem
and the poem’s loss (again)
before the end
he wanders away
11
eleven
planes fell
no-one forgets
the towers
disgorged
as the Tarot,
Lorca and Cohen
allow
has the world changed?
a child is hungry
*
watch the estuary
Hank Williams has been here
with Anton Newcombe
‘the last great rock n roller’
& all their pain
forbidden
to enter the gallery
with a fish
like the fish entered the air
from the sea
in the painting by John McGhan
enter if you dare
ten million
refugees of a sunrise
for justice
come again
to our cloud of reasoning
come again
to our cloud
the dead wish
you weren’t dead
that you don’t long for rest
you hurt putting the tightrope down
you try to speak of the sunset
without mentioning the sunset
try to fuck in words
