Dusty -revised

[ray]

Revised version 


 

I just don’t know what to do with my self

and it’s seldom I can locate it.

I’m circled on maps but when I stop to ask

a mist has covered the traces.

In living rooms and in limbo,

on all fours and on tiptoe I’ve chased it.

I’ve read the self-help literature,

Bergson et al and etcetera:

the brain is but a filterer

and in theory all can be heard and seen,

what is now and what has been.

The world is on my fingerprints,

its garbage overflows the bins

and I am blown by violins

to search my self to smithereens

down half-remembered alleyways,

the detritus of all the days

that’s settled on your counterpane.

Let’s fumble locks and zips and lips

too intimately intricate,

let’s laugh and listen to the drip

of a viscously blue percussion.

Let’s steal a ball with a private invite

and dare the world to pursue;

then at daybreak when the dust has flattened

and the great birds hover and squawk,

I’ll shrink smaller than invisible

and beg you to turn on the dark.



Original




I just don’t know what to do with my self
and it’s seldom I can locate it.
I’m circled on maps but when I stop to ask
then mist has covered the traces.
In living rooms and in limbo,
on all fours and on tiptoe I’ve chased it.
I’ve read the self-help literature,
Bergson et al and etcetera:
the brain is but a filterer
and in theory all can be heard and seen,
what is now and what has been.
The world is on my fingerprints,
its garbage overflows the bins
and I am blown by violins
to search my self to smithereens
down half-remembered alleyways,
the detritus of all the days
that’s settled on your counterpane.
Let’s fumble locks and zips and lips
too intimately intricate,
let’s laugh and listen to the drip
of percussion dabbled blue.
Let’s steal a ball with a private invite
and dare the world to pursue;
at daybreak when the dust has flattened
and the great birds hover and squawk,
I’ll shrink smaller than invisible
and beg you to turn on the dark.