Poem
Michael Laskey
THE UNEXAMINED LIFE
THE UNEXAMINED LIFE
THE UNEXAMINED LIFE
I didn’t look at the carcassstretched on the road by my gate
any more than I had to to know
the open-mouthed head and neck
twisted back was muntjac.
I wrapped myself up in the word,
a muffler against the cold,
and keeping close to the kerb
rode past on my bike.
I had bread to buy — the small browns
can run out unpredictably —
no time to see what we’d done
or even to imagine the damage,
bone spike slicing through muscle,
belly a staved in barrel
spilling out stuff.
And while I was gone, someone —
from pity or driven to it
by the hold-up to the traffic or knowing
his venison — got a grip
on its hooves, I suppose, and removed it
along with my chance to do
as I meant to, to use my eyes.
© 2008, Michael Laskey
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Michael Laskey
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1944)
Michael Laskey was born in Lichfield in Staffordshire. He read English at St John’s College, Cambridge, and then worked for ten years as a teacher in Spain and England. He has lived in Suffolk since 1978, working as a freelance writing tutor with a wide range of children and adults, and as an arts administrator.
He was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 1989 and directed it ...
He was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 1989 and directed it ...
Poems
Poems of Michael Laskey
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THE UNEXAMINED LIFE
I didn’t look at the carcassstretched on the road by my gate
any more than I had to to know
the open-mouthed head and neck
twisted back was muntjac.
I wrapped myself up in the word,
a muffler against the cold,
and keeping close to the kerb
rode past on my bike.
I had bread to buy — the small browns
can run out unpredictably —
no time to see what we’d done
or even to imagine the damage,
bone spike slicing through muscle,
belly a staved in barrel
spilling out stuff.
And while I was gone, someone —
from pity or driven to it
by the hold-up to the traffic or knowing
his venison — got a grip
on its hooves, I suppose, and removed it
along with my chance to do
as I meant to, to use my eyes.
THE UNEXAMINED LIFE
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