“The primulas had meant no harm”— Edith Sitwell
_______
_______
Note on text: “Mandyland”: Peter Mandelson is the M.P for Hartlepool where the ships docked. He is affectionately know as Mandy but less affectionately know as the chief architect behind Tony Blair's New Labour government.
_______
Geraldine Monk
Two sections from Shed
500 tonnes equals
bio-hazard sludge-upping
North Sea gizzard
casting
wholesides
of our Isles
darker
than
shark-shadow
deadlier
smelling-out
night-scented
stocks
l i s t i g l i s t i n g
arthritic
ghost ships
denser that
woder
water
watter
non-solvable
mercy-upon
lead
mercury
chromium
cadmium
asbestos
spumed peelings
painted throats
heading for Mandyland.
Shut that door!
~
Perspex is not the
incomparable sashay of bombé glass
Do not stay still in front of her curves
The diamond slasht
light
trussed at angles
coming at you
at all ways
side-jaw'd
in a shudder of
absinthe
a twist of
eau-de-nil
and f-fake prophesy
Do not stay still in front of her curves
promenade the
long room of
Haddon Hall—
do it with hands on hips—
gavotte it! ~!~~!~time
travel
the 21st century is ill
at ease
the Euphrates
in conflict
runs out of sorts
thinning to
thinner than
lavender water and
f-fake prophecy
