Photo (CC) KamrenB Photography @ Flickr
*
Leonardo’s spaceman
from city sleep
………..the night’s long shadows
……crawl inwards /……late walkers
…………….stumble home
the cat in dog’s fur / listens for owls
the thudless bells
…………of the temple………whisper
.
from here it’s a primitive hot house
……a neural-fed stardome
……….of short stories
of a man who lives in an iron lung
……….who walks up hills
…………….lying on his back
………who watches the clouds through a glass map
mouth open to spoonfuls of sea life
.
………..everyday
…..he responds………like a tide
………….caught between rocks
.
……….a helicopter
passes over………….stirring up
…sound / dangling vistas
…………………………heartbeats
…………the air pockets of athletes
.
………..the man in the iron lung
dreams of standing upright /…….naked
…………….like Leonardo’s spaceman
head and shoulders
…….amongst the congested luminaries
…………..of his reading /………head
……………………..and shoulders
decorated by a turmoil of feathers
solar systems parading their colours
.
…..he compares himself to a tree in blossom
………his nights populated
……………by ethnic interpretations of what he says
.
this morning he flew too close to the sun
.
……………i put back the soft golden peaches
………that are too sweet / i leave the grapes
……………to shrivel into green wrinkled heads
………i leave him to his confinement
…………everyday
he relies on small revivalist shots for something greater
…………with calculated ease
………………he stroke plays
………………….his love for objects out of reach
………………………for the silky fragrance
………….of another’s skin / the slipped momentum
…………………..of a similar person
.
the man who lives in the iron lung
……knows what it’s like
…………………to breathe underwater
…………..without sleeping
.
*
.
chrome yellow hypothesis
the house isn’t what it was
the voice of a radio
predicts a storm / it mimics a politician
……..commentates on cricket /
the radio possesses the eye
………..of an orchestra
anthems on walls / flags and
coronation stuff / a platoon
route marches to Hill 44 /
.
the family has taken its furniture
……..its god particles
…..and disguised itself in bundles
.
…………the house isn’t what it seems …
a square brick object
………at the mercy of orthodoxies
……………dousing gentiles in holy water / they
chant / play / sing / love thine enemies
.
Te Hahi o te Whakapono
………..the church……..(sermon-bloated)
…….hunches its white skull
…………..beside the lake
.
passers-by are pulled in to drool
…on historical grounds
…..where prisoners in wood
……….hug others in wood
where the lake laps music against stained-
glass windows /
………………….a flute’s voice
………….breathes on naked skin
……..a woman smiles
…………..undoes her soul
………………..for the cost of a camera’s sharp bite
.
….life………..i observe
………….is a sulphuric cloud
………raw and exposed
…………….a matter of confessions
this woman this mother
approaches
.
……….the miracle makers
…………..who each year split atoms
………………………by walking on air
.
she’s fascinated by silica
its crystals / this geothermal fragility
………………which domes the town
.
……..she opens herself to parkland
…………………………fantasies
……..any stuntman might exploit
.
beside the lake
…………..birds scrap
………over chrome-plated godsends
plucked from moonstones
.
this mother this woman
…..goes into the house of
…………………one room
…………………one kitchen
…………………one radio
.
a solitary figure clothing
……..legends in bright garments
.
what if
…………..i place my lips on her lips
………….would forests
………………….buckle up / would ghosts
………..return to their shelves to rest
.
she speaks to each gnome in her garden /…….paints
their hats gold
…………..handles them carefully
.
each night they rough and tumble
……………squabble…….like her children
……………….where invisibility is an asset
where in her house
love battles
love charges up a hill / e hoa
………………………………..she calls
and the radio responds
with the news
……..the weather
a boy scoops up a ball
and runs with it
through a yellow cloud
ABOUT THE POET
Since 2008, Iain Britton has had collections of poems published by Cinnamon Press, Interactive Press, Oystercatcher Press, Lapwing Publications and Kilmog Press, plus two pamphlets with Greendoor Publishing and Like This Press. Also, his work was included in the Shearcatcher Poetry Anthology, published by Shearsman Books, 2012. A recent collection, photosynthesis, has just been published by Kilmog Press (NZ), with Rufus Books (Canada) publishing new work in 2015.
Contrappasso Magazine: International Writing 