A life in poetry
words whittled to shavings
curling at my feet
thoughts like plastic wrappers
swirling in the wind
a puddle willing itself
to become an ice cube
the wave of a drowning man
in the waves
the sound of one hand clapping
in the forest
words shouted into the face
of the storm
unheard unread
your footprint preserved in stone
once a tentative step
in the ooze of time
much the way this began
when Ashbery* wrote “hand me the orange”*
was he slyly referencing O’Hara’s*
“Why I am not a painter”*
was this the orange he wanted
or would another do
was he craving the cool dimpled skin
the juicy flesh
explaining what happened to Frank’s orange
all that time ago
why do we assume he means
the fruit not the colour
nothing is as it seems
maybe he was just hungry not ironic
at his age would he care or remember
you can continue to break language down
but eventually the music
becomes just noise
words broken into a mumbled jumble
or is that the point
Ken when we both wore our hair long
your studied casualness signified cool
your hip nonchalance
your deliberate insouciance
nothing is as it seems
Mies Van Der Rohe* was born
Ludwig Mies
his Barcelona pavilion
was really the German pavilion
on Montjuic* overlooking Gaudi’s* city
not in Barcelona
the pavilion built 1929*
was demolished 1930
what happened to the Barcelona chair*
is unknown
when we supplicants climb the hill
to pay homage
does it matter this structure is
the 1986 re-construction
how authentic is this
set down millimetre perfect
to site specified stone in its construction
what is more important
the plans and specification or the building
is one just language the other the thing
where does the idea manifest itself
if your poem is reproduced
which is the authentic version you devised
if translated what does it mean
to you if you don’t speak that language
is it still your poem
nothing is as it seems
is your poem the same read
as heard by you or me
your sparse flinty words
scatter the light
the vast Mediterranean sky
captured by the pool the pavilion floats in
there is no ambiguity in structures
maybe that is why you are not an architect