Carole Satyamurti
Not Everything
Not all one can infer from a black cloud
is rain.
Not everything that stinks and gurgles is
a drain.
Not all the creatures caught in spiders’ webs
are flies.
Not every holy water sprinkler goes
to Paradise.
Not every reason given for being late
is spurious.
Not every President and PM is
uxorious.
Not all that can be done about desire
is sate it.
Not all that one can do with frightened breath
is bate it.
Not every widow on a luxury cruise
is wealthy.
Not all the uses of an overcoat
are healthy.
Not all that one can do with a dead duck’s
retrieve it.
Not all that’s right to do about a pain’s
relieve it.
Not everybody’s choice of partner is
mysterious.
Not everything a poet writes about
is serious.
Carole Satyamurti has published four collections of poetry of which the most recent is Love and Variations (Bloodaxe, 2000). She received a Cholmondeley Award in 2000. The poem ‘Villanelle’ which we publish here appeared in an earlier version in the Rialto, 1987.
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