Before you mention ‘poetry’
I am only passing through –
The centuries accelerate
With lesser inclination to inscribe
More than observations in a spiral
Reporter’s Notebook –
A white cotton raincoat –
Its yoke being light –
Constantine’s Christianistas
Weighed down by too much detail
Wear theirs with shoulder pads to intimate
Imperial power of which they are a party –
My overnight satchel is packed
What further consolation can I offer?
Hear now Here now –
Take my ancient umbrella
Well-used but sound of structure
It has seen out seasonal weather
Some two thousand years –
But ‘poetry’ if you please?
A dish of drawling incense
Offered to the sky
It is beyond my power to stop the rain
.
Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
.