The Human Tongue
1
What is the difference
between sinews and strings,
three-part harmony and trinitarian prayer,
anonymous wood and the Cross?
- Intention, which causes rumours to
stopper your mouth, the kids to
dare one another then end up
down Queen Mary Hospital, the skater to
slip like a granny knot, the flag to
hang at half-mast. - Inattention,
which is the death of the heroic on the road
to Taiaroa Head, where clouds cloud over
the learner’s determination
until her borrowed Ford spins
out of this world. - Attention,
which directs the fingers of Cy Twombly,
the eyes of Kim Pieters, a child’s
calligraphy on Dunedin’s skyline….
2
Long Beach: horse-hooves
exhuming water from sand. Mull over
Ruth Dallas: The sea is corrosive,
But not so corrosive as.... You’ll
remove uphill, downwind, where
cicadas scrape a living. What have you got to
say? I want I want I want
whatever’s not there yet needs to be
through you. Diminish the distance
between making and viewing;
let the audience sharpen your pencil
while galvanised iron reflects
the noon sun. Light will not
fall, it will radiate like God
knows what, like nothing
on earth, like a model’s blush
under the brush, or rose-water
pouring from an upturned pitcher.
3
If you do not speak you will be spoken
for. Origin and the loss of origin
inherent in becoming
a subject, this ‘Edinburgh of the South’ insinuates
itself into the Pacific, which will insinuate
itself into the Atlantic. At Purakanui
your tin shed hovers beyond high tide: climb
in, wiping dust from the mirror
the way surf wipes your footprints
off the face of the earthly. You
no longer represent your self.
Well, you know, be careful.
Like the gull scuttering before the storm
don’t engage, evade; like the lover
whisper because you have the power to
shout: Hey, Daddy, I’m over here.
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