The fool
I chase the spider that slipped
from soft kisses through my throat.
I sink my arm, I reach my lungs,
I grab only smoke and ashes,
nail dirt, sleep and craggy fluff.
The spider evades the bait,
the hook hanging between ducts.
I push my arm further in.
I research every corner
in which the spider could hide.
I reach and tag my inner organs
in alphabetical order.
In Latin if it suits me;
some of them require Greek.
I rename the coarser bits
with euphemisms I’ve heard.
But I must invent new words.
The ink melts with all these fluids,
which evade me like the spider.
I grasp a mesh without a name.
Cobweb? Spider? Tentacles? Legs?
Outer organ? Pubic hair?
I pull out and the rest follows,
my fingers hitched in the muddle,
a tangle of countless threads
hair, ducts, veins, muscles and nerves.
When it all comes out unfolded,
reversed skin clings to my bones,
distorted mirror of entrails,
(sticky blood keeps it in place)
I’m ready to kiss my lips.
from soft kisses through my throat.
I sink my arm, I reach my lungs,
I grab only smoke and ashes,
nail dirt, sleep and craggy fluff.
The spider evades the bait,
the hook hanging between ducts.
I push my arm further in.
I research every corner
in which the spider could hide.
I reach and tag my inner organs
in alphabetical order.
In Latin if it suits me;
some of them require Greek.
I rename the coarser bits
with euphemisms I’ve heard.
But I must invent new words.
The ink melts with all these fluids,
which evade me like the spider.
I grasp a mesh without a name.
Cobweb? Spider? Tentacles? Legs?
Outer organ? Pubic hair?
I pull out and the rest follows,
my fingers hitched in the muddle,
a tangle of countless threads
hair, ducts, veins, muscles and nerves.
When it all comes out unfolded,
reversed skin clings to my bones,
distorted mirror of entrails,
(sticky blood keeps it in place)
I’m ready to kiss my lips.
Ernesto Sarezale is the penname of a Basque cognitive scientist based in London. Some of his poems have appeared online, in poetry e-zines like Transparent Words and interactive arts web sites like the-cyber-kitchen.com.
Page(s) 74
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The