Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

« Previous item
Contents of this issue
Next item »

Pat Watson

print this page

Pyrotechnics

In the distance a dog howled
and rockets, screaming, hurtled
across the sky.  The dismal yard
was a fiery cavern in the bonfire’s blaze,
ringed with shadows where
the old gods lurked.

Then he began to dance, a burly man
moving with a kind of clumsy grace,
the lighted sparklers round his battered hat
spitting out stars.  Capering in the flames
he was a tribal shaman in a trance,
conjuring spirits.

Somehow it went beyond a childish game.
A chill entered the air, the watching gods
almost emerged from hiding.  Someone tapped
a rhythm on a plate, relentlessly,
compelling us to dance around the fire,
lost to this world.

Faster and faster, under a pagan spell,
we circled the dying flames.  Impossible
to say what would have happened next,
but as it always does, the rain
began to fall leaving us feeling foolish
in the dark.

 

Page(s) 6

Back to top