Kim Taplin
Undercover
frayed strips of dark blue cloth
just holding the boards but the spine’s gone
& the thin paper’s brown at the edges
foxed as the booksellers say
UNIV. OXONIENSIS
they cooped him up like this
in two-column pages like a bible
but the old fox don’t stay in his box
I open my complete works of Shakespeare
press my nose into its stitched centre
breathe deep
he wasn’t bothered about printing
& it’s thanks to Hemynge and Condell
Mercutio still jests
out of all the stars I pick Mercutio
so alive, so very dead, so alive
& in spite of those awful school exams
& all those dull scholarly essays
all those Arts Council grants
all those audition speeches
all those egotistical directors
in spite of the Americans & the Japanese
& a million Lilliputian footnotes
tying him down
we know almost nothing about him
& that is entirely in keeping
with the best agent we ever had
just holding the boards but the spine’s gone
& the thin paper’s brown at the edges
foxed as the booksellers say
UNIV. OXONIENSIS
they cooped him up like this
in two-column pages like a bible
but the old fox don’t stay in his box
I open my complete works of Shakespeare
press my nose into its stitched centre
breathe deep
he wasn’t bothered about printing
& it’s thanks to Hemynge and Condell
Mercutio still jests
out of all the stars I pick Mercutio
so alive, so very dead, so alive
& in spite of those awful school exams
& all those dull scholarly essays
all those Arts Council grants
all those audition speeches
all those egotistical directors
in spite of the Americans & the Japanese
& a million Lilliputian footnotes
tying him down
we know almost nothing about him
& that is entirely in keeping
with the best agent we ever had
Page(s) 59
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