Sunday, June 25, 2017

Kit Kelen #540 - hours oddly arranged



540
hours oddly arranged
(further notes towards the endless essay on time
+ possible organising principle for all over the place)


you'd think there was some universal law
but hours following had been before

washing shirt when I come home from the sun
rinsing really
then the sun again

dial just a shadow cast
of a stick

wheedling activities out
that is time rounding on

or you get to the edges – say Iceland, Morocco

and sometimes bent into it
labouring under a mighty load

or here we are where we have been

machines won't tell it as it is
I can't see what I'm in

brave at temperature's extremes

watch a fan for a clock
speak in

hours inside and out are apart

the hour upside down
has gravitas

I've seen people locked up in
ping pong – all Alladin's treasure
were they happy, doing time?

is there a point of negotiation?

time comes between us
and still the dead
are all attention
won't lessen their demands

who lives in the wall now?
time's scratching there

the rescue dogs bring back faint anatomies

it's your funny voice again
without glasses won't see what I'm writing

you say impatient
but that's your reading

a piano can slow things down
or any strings under wood pressed

I've seen time roll along like a ball
then bounce, sit up
who says 'betimes' these days?

sometimes it's with the instincts
of an altogether other animal

then you think ferret's day
crocodile of the moment

a butterfly dip in the plunge pool

it could be arriving and not even there
time will leave its calling card
on a silver tray
just where you come in
with the paper knife
careful
and those unopened letters
so fin-de-siècle now

1 comment:

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.