Month: April 2005

‘double dactyl’

Paterson-Caterson,
William Williams
liked to use ‘Carlos’ as
part of his name,

slaved at his epic but
minimalistically
plums and a wheelbarrow
won him his fame.

‘reflections’

The world is surfaces
reflecting one another –
a row of whisky bottles
held in a tangle of light.

A girl looks at the light
her face reflects
onto the mirror
and spreads chemicals
onto her skin
to tint and blur it.

If the image in the glass
reflect the images
she sees in magazines
which show her
what they think she wants to see,
perhaps she can affect
the way the world
reflects herself at her.

‘Eleven Ways of Looking at a Blackbird Killed by your Cat’

I

When a cat chews the skull of a mouse,
it makes the eyes pop out.

II

As Boris crouches down to stalk
the birds on the lawn,
he calls to them, low and inquiring.
Is he excited? playful?
Perhaps he hopes to talk them into his mouth.

III

A broken dragonfly
clattering on the floor
makes an excellent toy.

IV

Delilah prances in, chirruping
through a mouthful of starling.
How pretty it is, in its spring plumage,
glossed with green and purple.
The little darts of white
are like a cartoon convict uniform.

V

This is the thirteenth young dead rat
in the last three days.
To the rat’s nest, Boris must seem
like a wrathful god.

VI

If I was a cat, I wouldn’t be so quick
to stick my paw into dark holes
just to see what’s in them.

VII

A furry thing underfoot;
cat toy, or dead mouse?

VIII

Posy, you have a spider leg
stuck on the side of your mouth.

IX

If you

‘This poem is so bad / it makes me sad’

O! my muse has gone away.
I can’t write a poem today.

I can’t find a rhyme
in time

the metre’s broken
and I ain’t jokin’

so this poem’s not great
and it’s half an hour late

as well.

~~~~~~~~~~

I can only hope that this will represent the low point of the whole month.