OliHazzard

fromEclogues

At any one time there are as many different | types of music asthereare rooms | topay tribute to | sealing themfromoneanother.Poorlyfitteddoorsmean | to feign intimacy through | that fromacertainposition it is possible | to hearBartók resisting | the trafficslowing speechmuffled | amouthful | of ketchupand | jam. In thesquare they fail | openly, too convincingly | to achieve a systemperfected in its journey across | the assent of many | senses.Touching in its | simplicity the hearts and | lawns of counciloffices the opening

joins

these two people | to the 21st century. Youmay kiss | the winterwith yournew lips | youmay remain | the silenceof | resolution toignore your example. Streets | contradict the speech of | neveragain to tolerate the | astronomical entryprice | forhigh | violenceand its music across the | water. High over the school or office |makeshift barricades are erectedwithin | nothing.A logic beyondcapacity to prove need through | exhaustion of any defence | offlowers, their continual definition | of a gesture outside the blockof | language just down the road fromwhere we | live.

Wereadtoomuch| into theground|beneath | thegroundbeneathour feet. Since everything that happened | happened there | itbombed.Whoknowswhat | Power failed along the lines. But likeChristopher Newman (a character | in Henry James’s TheAmerican) I prefer the copies | of masterpieces | over theoriginals. AsPaulNash implied | perhaps to distinguish the trees| from the wood, its bark is worse than | as Lee Harwoodmightsay | all you do, my | is appropriate. You mine | my mine | withyours. Steel yourself | for an act of originality

bite

that feeds it. The divisions | undivided | all the sweeter. I wasintimated across the threshold | of amargin | of a centre |movedby the accents of amargin | a kind of latent relief. | Something |bothdoubtable andredoubtable | a reliquaryof limits.Youcould |snooze by the light | of suchnames | and this is no | library, chief.Bewarepo-facedǷōden denforheknows|notwhatyoudo:thekindof case prefaced by head or | nut of theBrazilian | variety. A littledistance quakes under its cost. Who | will fly me now? Asks |poorMonmouth, sweltering | in the rain | of his name.

66 | CRITICAL QUARTERLY, VOL. 55, NO. 4