Ralph Hawkins
THE DESTRUCTION OF EVERYTHING
Picasso in a pot (Cardiff)
Tintin and the end of the Venetian Renaissance
The Seven Hillbillies of Rome
THE CRIMINAL ESTABLISHMENT
Stalin had his favourite poets
birds in the trees (birds / trees?)
[A hawk now
over the Ionian Sea
over the
mountain(?)
early October
swallows
to Africa
Ants over the
worktop
and the noise
of children from
the schoolyard]
a thousand sparrows
filling their chests
on loggias in the shade
cheese puffs
the fridge full of Emmental
in the living stream
taxis explode in the desert
the shape of the sky
bright at night
and enduring only
for a moment in the dark
PROVISION
she rode a horse to meet her lover (book)
a truck pulling into a garage
a curlew, more
a fox
and then she breathes and calls for help
the panic button
her skin dry and flaking from her arms, bruises, bleeding
but suet pudding, jam
and you look into the mirror
cheery now
calling the Japanese Admiral a genius (film) (Isoroku Yamamoto)
FORTY GUNS
Two men hand in hand in front of a gun store
The geese circle, split, flock, land
Check on her breathing, slumped to the floor
Get a doctor, she’ll live
I wonder, she said, what the second (Forbidden) planet is like?
Blue waters, grey mists
A secret world of cosmetics, hair tints
They kiss and fart
ATTENTION DEFICIT
Crossing the border into Yacqui country (tv)
[the boy with the wolf, Mexico]
older psychopaths (everywhere)
I’ve looked it up and read about it. I’m not one.
Her one eye dead
passing moments quickly gone
a toy iceberg (film)
he tiffs his hat to a toff
“she broke down” (the ship)
the parts, the screws
re-threaded
there is no time to reassemble the exploded bomb
cursed and cursed
fucked and fucked
dusting the screen with snow
taking off without him
[A hawk now
over the Ionian Sea
over the
mountain(?)
early October
swallows
to Africa
Ants over the
worktop
and the noise
of children from
the schoolyard]
a thousand sparrows
filling their chests
on loggias in the shade
cheese puffs
the fridge full of Emmental
in the living stream
taxis explode in the desert
the shape of the sky
bright at night
and enduring only
for a moment in the dark
PROVISION
she rode a horse to meet her lover (book)
a truck pulling into a garage
a curlew, more
a fox
and then she breathes and calls for help
the panic button
her skin dry and flaking from her arms, bruises, bleeding
but suet pudding, jam
and you look into the mirror
cheery now
calling the Japanese Admiral a genius (film) (Isoroku Yamamoto)
FORTY GUNS
Two men hand in hand in front of a gun store
The geese circle, split, flock, land
Check on her breathing, slumped to the floor
Get a doctor, she’ll live
I wonder, she said, what the second (Forbidden) planet is like?
Blue waters, grey mists
A secret world of cosmetics, hair tints
They kiss and fart
ATTENTION DEFICIT
Crossing the border into Yacqui country (tv)
[the boy with the wolf, Mexico]
older psychopaths (everywhere)
I’ve looked it up and read about it. I’m not one.
Her one eye dead
passing moments quickly gone
a toy iceberg (film)
he tiffs his hat to a toff
“she broke down” (the ship)
the parts, the screws
re-threaded
there is no time to reassemble the exploded bomb
cursed and cursed
fucked and fucked
dusting the screen with snow
taking off without him
Copyright © Ralph Hawkins 2015
Ralph Hawkins' most recent book is It Looks Like an Island But Sails Away (Shearsman 2015). There are two further collections from Shearsman, The Moon The Chief Hairdresser (highlights) (2004) and Gone To Marzipan
(2009). He can be found reading at the Brighton Poetry Festival 2012 on
Youtube and also archiveofthenow. He has interviewed Ted Berrigan
(Talking in Tranquility). He has written articles and reviews about
poets, Douglas Oliver, Alice Notley, Allen Fisher, Simon Pettet and
others which can be found on intercapillaryspace.
