Poem
Polly Clark
WOMEN
WOMEN
WOMEN
I sail into the world of women,
in a magnificent ship that does not interest them.
I imagine this is what loving them is:
adding up the piecework of them,
the pale neck, the sudden crow’s feet,
the expensive lips saying of course of course.
I have learned their language, I can say
what do you think? like a native,
but they detect an accent in spite of me.
Their eyes rest on me over the wine.
Their secrets are palpable as money.
We trade, and I grow rich. I feel free.
We compare songs, the cuts on our wrists.
Sometimes I think I have found my home.
When I hold them, I hear their bones crying.
Their costly hair drifts and shines.
© 2005, Polly Clark
From: Take Me With You
Publisher: Bloodaxe, Tarset
Published with kind permission of the author and Bloodaxe.
From: Take Me With You
Publisher: Bloodaxe, Tarset
Polly Clark
(Canada, 1968)
Polly Clark was born in Toronto, Canada and brought up in Britain. She has published three poetry collections with Bloodaxe: Kiss (2000), Take Me With You (2005) and Farewell My Lovely (2009). Kiss was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, whereas Take Me With You was a Poetry Book Society Choice and shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. In 1997, Clark won an Eric Gregory Award, and in 2004 the U...
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WOMEN
I sail into the world of women,
in a magnificent ship that does not interest them.
I imagine this is what loving them is:
adding up the piecework of them,
the pale neck, the sudden crow’s feet,
the expensive lips saying of course of course.
I have learned their language, I can say
what do you think? like a native,
but they detect an accent in spite of me.
Their eyes rest on me over the wine.
Their secrets are palpable as money.
We trade, and I grow rich. I feel free.
We compare songs, the cuts on our wrists.
Sometimes I think I have found my home.
When I hold them, I hear their bones crying.
Their costly hair drifts and shines.
From: Take Me With You
Published with kind permission of the author and Bloodaxe.
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