I AM SLOW MOTION, I AM SLOW MOTION, LISTEN, I AM SLOW MOTION,
SEE THIS IN SLOW MOTION, YOU ARE, YOU ARE SLOW, YOU MOTION,
YOU ARE SLOW MOTION, HE RAISED HIS RIGHT HAND, RIGHT HAND,
RAISED HIS RIGHT HAND, SHE RAN, RAN, SHE WAS SCREAMING, A
BOTTLE IN HIS HAND, WITH A BOTTLE IN HIS HAND HE STRUCK US,
SHE, RUNNING, HE STRUCK US, SHE WAS SCREAMING RUNNING,
STANDING, STRUCK US WITH A BOTTLE IN HIS HAND, I STANDING,
KNUCKLES BARED, I, WE, KNUCKLES BARED, WE STRUCK BACK, SHE
SAW NOTHING, SHE WAS SLOW, NOTHING WAS SLOW, SHE SAW
NOTHING, WAS SLOW, NOTHING, WE LAY DOWN, KISSED, LAY DOWN,
KISSED LYING DOWN, WE LAY DOWN FURTHER, FURTHER, WE LAY
DOWN FURTHER, REACHED, REACHED, IN PAIN, IN WRETCHED PAIN,
THROBBING, IN WRETCHED THROBBING PAIN WE REACHED, WE LAY
DOWN, KISSED, BEAUTIFULLY WE SHARED IT, SOMETHING
THROBBING, SOMETHING, WE SHARED IT, THROBBING, HEARTBEATS
HEAVY, HEARTBEATS HEAVY,PAVING STONES, PAVING STONES,
SUDDENLY, A SMILE, SUDDENLY A SMILE, THROUGH HER FACE, FROM
HER FACE, RUNNING, WHY RUNNING, WHY, RUNNING, I WAS
STANDING, I UNDERSTAND, I WAS STANDING, BUT WHY, SHE WAS
RUNNING, I UNDERSTAND, TOWARDS ME, SHARING, SHARING SLOW
MOTION, SLOW MOTION, FALLING SLOWLY, WE ARE FALLING SLOWLY,
LYING DOWN, LYING DOWN, SLOWLY, WE ARE GOING, WE ARE, DYING
SLOWLY, SLOWLY WE ARE GOING, A SMILE THROUGH HER EYES, FROM
HER EYES, HER EYES, CLOSED EYES, SHE IS DYING QUICKLY, QUICKER
THAN I AM, I CAN’T SEE, I CAN’T, I AM, WE ARE, DYING, SHARING, WE
ARE SLOW, DYING MOTION, WE ARE SLOW, WE ARE SO SLOW, WE………
Julian Nangle
This prose poem recounts a true encounter (with some poetic licence) I had in Paris on May 3rd 1967, (round the corner from the bookshop Shakespeare & Co where I had spent the evening), a year to the day before the student riots of May ‘68. I was 19 years old. It was published in a few places, but first in a magazine called Barefoot.