David Morley
A Friendly and Equitable Insurance
I’ve been out in the woods and brought something home.
A creature, no, nor lichen sleeved from a branch.
I’ve been digging, not to lay a ghost
or to find a father, but to uncover the taproot
of that famous tree from the book of memory.
I post myself a report on its territory:
a nervous system of root, the brain of leaf,
perennial synapses of forgettings and rememberings.
And when I receive it I will not believe in it;
but bin it with my father and all the creatures,
dead or imagined, not worth the risk,
a risk which could make me hate myself.
The next morning I will not go to the woods.
I’ll read about my death by easy payments.
For if my eyelash offends I pluck it.
If the city grows too hot I leave it,
hitting the countryside with its big-hearted hedges,
vistas and many sites of historical interest.
In everything I do, I offend something.
The taproot oozes oil, spreads across my memory,
blacks and confuses it. I must do as I please
with this sunlit morning: the light is accurate
and I stand square as though I owned it.
As though I deserved it no more.
Page(s) 68
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