Poem

MTC Cronin

Side by side

Seven Mysterious Songs V

Fortuity (Sheel of Clouds)

1. one excuse

One excuse was to say
I forgot the time
(or you simply ran out
of time)

Time, for something so
relative;
(lying on the beach);
works remarkably well
(we always used it
instead of humour)

There was always plenty
of it
to fight in
And none left
to quickly make love in
the morning (before work)

(We’ll make up for it
later)
But there was a storm
(and you had to spend
the night)
in another town
looking over the sun

But rain rains down
inside my ear
With that noise
inside of shells
(It never changes)
and I can’t hear
(that you are waiting)

But I don’t need
any evidence to know
that time
is culpable

2. two ways of arriving at surrealism

How many dreams
present the life of the protagonist?
the girl with only one heart?
someone on the run?

He was standing on the corner
miming a scene of torture
when he heard the first sound
(more like somethin’ bashed into somethin’
than somethin’ bashed loose)
and his leg fell into the gutter
He had his foot in the stream
The sun, just pulling up its toes
under that cloud
At that moment he knew
just what that leg was worth
(he had no idea, exactly,
what a leg was worth)

The girl was walking,
so slow down the beach
Crying. Her tears
delivered up to her
by clouds
with tiny hands of salt
She’s got straight hair
and a new nose
(they bashed it with a little hammer
till it came loose)
It was worth a lot to her –
she even gave up
being the Queen of Egypt

And it was only by accident:
the car with a scalpel;
the surgeon losing control;
inside a shell, the sky –

3. three times around the moon

And it’s just a game
Put it up to your ear

Out driving
the shadows rush to meet us
Our mistakes

He asked
Can we still be in love
when dirt is falling
from the sun
With the moon
rolling its knuckles
over my back

And she was slow
like a snail
to answer
Go another three
times round
the sky
It’s safe –
we live inside