Simon PETTET

---

JULY ON HORATIO STREET


Last night I spied

the great bard naked

O begged his pardon

For my crass intrusion

I meant to tell him

I loved his work

I'm not a creep


I don't think he heard me

(He didn't not hear me)

He was just otherwise engaged

With this complicated process of extinction


*******


Last night I spied

the great bard naked

O begged her pardon

For my crass intrusion

I meant to tell her

I loved her work

I'm not a creep


I don't think she heard me

(She didn't not hear me)

She was just otherwise engaged

With this complicated process of extinction







POEM ("Firstly, she starts to mutter..")

Firstly, she starts to mutter and twitch
Secondly, her hair falls out (widow's peak,
bald patches. Third, her once-pristine togs
become grimy (regrettably soiled); fourth,
she "gives forth foul odours".
Fifth, finally, in rueful old age, she realizes
she can never again capture what she once had
"With that reckless indifference to the world"
she gives up. She curls up under the stars,
she imagines the vast terrible outside void
and her heart's pit-a-pat


*******


Firstly, he starts to mutter and twitch
Secondly, his hair falls out (widow's peak,
bald patches. Third, his once-pristine togs
become grimy (regrettably soiled); fourth,
he "gives forth foul odours".
Fifth, finally, in rueful old age, he realizes
he can never again capture what he once had
"With that reckless indifference to the world"
he gives up. He curls up under the stars,
he imagines the vast terrible outside void
and his heart's pit-a-pat.




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