Linda Black
FRIPPERY Pull out the safety net attributed to the defence of the realm. Flatten for ironing – bibs, rags, antimacassar. Unimportant considerations. Turpentine. Formica. An extra leaf (dropped). Dumb waiter. Stays at home. Self-binding. An inverted cone shape. So many bundles. A jar for everything except the kitchen sink. Everyone accepts the kitchen sink. Gaudy. With matching cufflinks. (Just the ticket for a strapless gala.) Worn on the abdomen. Stiffened with glue. A brow raised. A broken rib. They had but little clothing, but such as they had was fanciful in character and fantastic in its arrangement. Any little absurd gewgaw or gimcrack they had they disposed in such a way as to make it attract attention most readily. Ardass, arrasene, balzarine, bedraggled; bombazine, bagging, barathea, course and stout. Cap it all. Make it up. (That flower pot shape is very smart.) A SMALL GALLERY Fallen open. Tall intention spread around tall rooms. Sections staged as compromise. Contraindication. A twisted paradox. Mock plates. Perforated cups. It was breaking time in the staffroom. I was getting a cup of tea. Bags of colleagues. This and that has no uniformity. I’m fine I said. Search for a creed. Glue it down in long thin strips like fly paper. It takes courage to step into the wide boulevard. Consciousness rails against dispersal. One expects trees. It was breeding time in the auditorium. Not seen to be heard. All at once it began to snow. A space set apart. I snatched my satchel. We were a small team and we needed help. The janitor closed for the day. Many years later it began again BREED Imprint, thumbnail – part of a cat (retractile claws), a missed event *, nestlings, capers, feathered scraps. Noisy miners (multiple broods), netted spoils, quaint minimal Fletchlings (with reddish-orange heads and a triangular yellow mark on the back of each eye). Trained hangers (on) selected robes, sizes prone to incretion. Coats and arms; hereditary saturation. Step away till later. Corrected drafts (keg or cask). Mannerisms are a balanced book. Scour of dip-THEER-ee-uh. Sentence, sustenance, ail-a-men-tary canal. Temporary spots. Incompleted complications. Fences, former inferences. Splints, braces, (a) coddled cheek. * I had the chance to control several Pelham puppets. INTO THE HAYSTACK A large pile built up. The launderette lay around the corner. In the window a surfeit of powder. A welcome of sorts. Before (she) was longed for that was the way it went. An appointment was made to last. Left hand tied behind the back. Chalk and taupe. The colour of mole. Ringworm, scabies, dermatitis, pox. Layette. Various combinations. Long John ran six feet. Was that where the treasure was? Got the bone needle? An eye for a hook? Objects resemble. Look afield. Look again. Fodder in the loft. Conical, ridged on top, built for preservation. The needle was carefully hidden by museum director Jean de Loisy, at the Palais de Tokyo contemporary art gallery in the French capital. Sven Sachsalber spent the next two days trying to find it. Ouch! |
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Copyright © Linda Black 2017
Linda Black's most recent collection Slant was published by Shearsman in April 2016. Previous collections are Inventory and Root (Shearsman 2008 and 2011) and The Son of a Shoemaker (Hearing Eye 2012). The last, consisting of collaged prose-poems based on the early life of Hans Christian Andersen plus the author’s pen and ink illustrations, was the subject of an exhibition at The Poetry Society in 2013. She is co-editor of Long Poem Magazine. Her website is at www.lindaroseblack.com