Alan Dunnett
Eclipse
You call to make a deal. The line
Has not gone dead. You speak again
Of communication. I think of the fine
Swells and declines of your flesh. Then
We talk terms. First, there is the code:
To break or not to break. One word
Sticks in the matter of science, overloads
The cistern of visceral content . Absurd,
As far as ball and brain can tell.
I walk shabbily to the door
And sign out. We all wish you well
In the seasonal flux when the poor
Heart hurts and heals, heals and hurts. Scabs
Mark the spot, the conduit where
Poison jumps with elixir, jags
Logic and confounds the bare
Hearth of the house. I realise
You are waiting. I am slow to leave.
A refusal to recognise
A reasonable request should ease
The parting. After all, no bond
Exists. Thank you for enquiring.
I appreciate that. Your hand:
May I shake it? Coldly perspiring
At this time of eclipse, I find
Comfort in a hurry of night
Silent across the street. Going blind
Because I looked at the light
Against warning was, I concede,
A mistake. The doctors call it
vertigo. Despite good sense, I lead
Myself on. When the message hits
The fan, it is too late. Get out
Of this place now. The line is dead,
A doubled pain come after doubt.
Oh, I remember what was said
With regret. Still it was said. Give
Your love to your children. Hack up
This memory to pieces. Live
For newness. The deal is shut.
Page(s) 13-14
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