ZOETROPES
A starting. Words which begin
with Z alarm the heart:
the eye cuts down at once
then drifts across the page
to other disappointments.
*
Zenana: the women's apartments
in Indian or Persian houses.
Zero is nought, nothing,
nil - the quiet starting point
of any scale of measurement.
*
The land itself is only
smoke at anchor, drifting above
Antarctica's white flower,
tied by a thin red line
(5000 miles) to Valparaiso.
London 29.4.81
©Bill Manhire |
