how
to not see beggars
it is a given you won't hear them
despite all of the wailing and groans
they are a kind of dumb show
man with knees backwards
woman in puddle in shadow in snow
low penitent growl inaudible
nothing to hear, nothing to see
still the eyes are involved
you have to steel yourself
they are ghost gargoyles
come to earth
they are the neighbourhood watch
they know what passes
for what in these parts
you have to be hard as daylight
as night is cold
you have to be harder
than them
not to see
are they puppets?
will they rust?
is this performance
of or after the fact?
a line divides them
from the buskers
the eyes are involved
look!
they are transparent
you know them like the back of the
hand
you have in mind to show
a show of much thanks
is offered
contrition!
so sorry to have come to this
see my hands are empty
clean, nails trimmed
if you give you show
each is a street
a certain turning
genius loci
like gods the Chinese will always
have
they sway to a breeze
you can only imagine
can they have had names?
one day a hospital will meet them
where they will be declared
made equal
imagine their future is the past
their locomotion
as it must have been
when we were all worms inching
today
give just a coin
and feed the racket
so there will be more
crust of bread would be unwelcome
bowl of soup turned upside down
and all set sail
drift up with the pigeons
some days the vertical hold goes
and they fly past
all imploring
as in a shopwindow display
there but for God's grace
you might have come
at this needle's eye
with wise camels
and gifts in tow
draw blinds
but they're still out on the street
immortals!
you think they are against the grain
you're up against
and you're the ghost seen through
but they are the wall
the beckoning
the hand out
of the brickwork
taking
it's too late to pinch yourself
when you have turned to stone
An amazing very fast poem full of flickering images and ideas. I like it very much.
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