Maggie Sawkins
A pair of small ears
I have come to translate the silence.
I've brought paper and pencils
and a pair of small ears.
I ask you
not to disturb me
until the task is done.
First I will unwrap the ears
and place them face up
on the floor.
You will observe their strangeness
these tiny shallows
their bridges of bone.
They are waiting for the sound
of no sound -
nothing is permitted
not even the intermittent
buzz of a fly
nor the tick of a wall.
You must contain your breath
learn patience -
shuffle along any vagrant thought.
Soon the ears will begin
to quiver - gently they will
pick up the pencils at their side.
Listen closely -
the word is about to be
written.
I've brought paper and pencils
and a pair of small ears.
I ask you
not to disturb me
until the task is done.
First I will unwrap the ears
and place them face up
on the floor.
You will observe their strangeness
these tiny shallows
their bridges of bone.
They are waiting for the sound
of no sound -
nothing is permitted
not even the intermittent
buzz of a fly
nor the tick of a wall.
You must contain your breath
learn patience -
shuffle along any vagrant thought.
Soon the ears will begin
to quiver - gently they will
pick up the pencils at their side.
Listen closely -
the word is about to be
written.
Maggie Sawkins lives in Southsea. A collection of her work, Charcot's Pet, is due to be published by Flarestack in December.
Page(s) 28
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