Tuesday 11 May 2010

Words and Witchcraft II: Fragment of a Prose Poem










urther to my last post, I have spent much of this week editing poems from my spell in the museum. A couple of new pieces have arrived too, but most of my work has focused on the handful of poems that were born while I was there.

Looking over my notes, I found the following odd little creature. It's a prose-poem that I wrote as a warm-up exercise and meant to sound a bit Luke Kennardish, but which never grew beyond two paragraphs:


In a cabinet in the museum I found a Sheela-na-gig. She was grinning and glazed, and quite unembarrassed. When she saw me looking, she rolled on her back, and from between her knees she said, 'Have some of this!' I looked away, at the blue felt back cloth and the information card at her feet.

In a cabinet in the museum I found two monkey skulls. They were arguing because one had stolen the other's teeth. The one on the left (the one with the teeth) was laughing and flashing his gnashers at his friend. The other one shouted, but his words came out gummily and his friend only laughed all the harder.


Here are some Sheela-na-gigs.

And here are the museum's two monkey skulls.

Perhaps if I return next year, my odd little piece might grow into something significant. It's certainly the runt of my litter, but I am rather fond of it.

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