Carole Satyamurti
Sympathetic magic
That Ionian jacaranda reaches
in perpetual arabesque, its limbs delicate,
rich in shade this stifling afternoon.
High up, a collared dove gives soothing voice
to the somnolence embracing everyone –
except the house cat. Rapt, she calculates,
then creeps along a branch very slowly.
Want it enough: you’ll get your heart’s desire;
and she lusts after the soft, brown dove
with all the passion known to tooth and claw.
Ambition, cunning, hubris – it’s all here.
Maybe the dove will explode into flight
but it is stupid, and it fatly sits
blinking its ruby eyes, preening, cooing:
platonic dove, as she is perfect cat.
But now, the point appears to change from murder
to metamorphosis, drama to poetry;
a moment when the ardour to possess
becomes the wish to be – know what it is
to inhabit that plump, phlegmatic breast.
If you want a thing, dare to become it.
She gathers herself and croons, a little shyly
like one who knows she’s got a lot to learn.
Any minute now, she’ll conquer fear,
become the Icarus of cats, air-borne.
in perpetual arabesque, its limbs delicate,
rich in shade this stifling afternoon.
High up, a collared dove gives soothing voice
to the somnolence embracing everyone –
except the house cat. Rapt, she calculates,
then creeps along a branch very slowly.
Want it enough: you’ll get your heart’s desire;
and she lusts after the soft, brown dove
with all the passion known to tooth and claw.
Ambition, cunning, hubris – it’s all here.
Maybe the dove will explode into flight
but it is stupid, and it fatly sits
blinking its ruby eyes, preening, cooing:
platonic dove, as she is perfect cat.
But now, the point appears to change from murder
to metamorphosis, drama to poetry;
a moment when the ardour to possess
becomes the wish to be – know what it is
to inhabit that plump, phlegmatic breast.
If you want a thing, dare to become it.
She gathers herself and croons, a little shyly
like one who knows she’s got a lot to learn.
Any minute now, she’ll conquer fear,
become the Icarus of cats, air-borne.
Carole Satyamurti’s latest collection, Stitching the Dark: New and Selected Poems, appears from Bloodaxe in April 2005.
Page(s) 41
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