Make of me, too, a microcosm Make of me, too, a microcosm— Merger, marry, manifest As the bridegroom, as the stone-melted Heart. Move but do not remove me, for monsters Maraud in madness here, and we meet Mettle to mettle about the place. But you— Magnificent as mystery, as morning, you Are mooring the ship … Read more
SIDE EFFECT So few cars on our Manhattan street Pigeons leaving nests that swirl between Highrise ledges, fearless land to eat Any mid-street grain or scrap they glean. Told to stay at home most acquiesce. Now we learn how unbeknownst we spare Our New York as we’re emitting less Long-lived greenhouse gases in the air. … Read more
Pan’s Song Your rule has lapsed Apollo, all narrative is dead, You said true form is timeless, but they chose me instead, My pipe has no rhythm, but is easy on the ear, A great tumult rise in ecstasy, precisely as you feared, It’s true you had your time, But as samples, your’s is mine, … Read more
AREOPAGITE The cloud moves, low, across the landscape, leaving a slick of rainwater on the backs of cows. It passes through the mind of a priest and into the eyes of a fourteen year old girl. It is a pestilence. A curse upon the territory. In the villages they are rasping for bread. No chickens … Read more
Natural History Museum, Dublin Necrophorus investigator bears The dead and follows in their footsteps. Moths, Beetles – anaspis maculata: stained, Unshielded – big names, small lives; thoughts Made real, embodied in machines. The spare Crater of earth, when all earth’s blood has drained, Will hold its arc and torque, all else being lost. The hinges … Read more
Poetry editor Edward Clarke selects poems from Paul Curran, Billy O Hanluain, Haley Hodges Schmid, Ned Denny and his own work to mark Holy Week. A corona Sonnet With no less haste than the crisis deserves, All faces one mask of consternation, We’ve learnt, through conversing in spikes and curves, This virus respects no … Read more
Master of children’s small fingers & of the indestructible hair of girls & of the transparent shields of the gendarmes – today I saw videos of children with broken heads & fingers broken, I saw girls dragged by their shiny & indestructible hair by gendarmes with shields transparent as your indestructible light, I saw indestructible … Read more
Prescription: Isolation No man is an island? Go to your room. Sweat for three days through your clothes, and gaze at the sky idling through its wardrobe. Wait, while species-wide delirium registers tremors in the earth’s heart. Dream, with Ravel, of the radio’s skirling fantasies, one ear awake to the bells tolling over Italy. Angels … Read more
My life’s ambition is to write a poem For you to quiver in ecstasy, Transcending the storms that have become For us a weakly reminder That all is not as it should be For a generation to come All out of shape without Any need for eugenics, Or medical scapegoats, As my face takes on … Read more
The Lamps of the Virgins from Bearers of the Broken Vessel At dawn, weaving through hills, go Daughters of Jerusalem in white, faces illumed by the flames of their lamps. They sing a song about lovers, become a string of dancing lights. At dawn, before babes awakened and bawled to take suckle, their mothers lit … Read more