Here, in country dark
the black so thick
one can almost
touch it
feel it
ooze out of the moment
...before time.
I am 9.
Cork is a somewhere
adrift in space
as I
this midnight child
steal from sleep
& into Granny's garden.
The dark erases
my physical body
until there is only me
thinking me
as if thought were
the only thing
keeping me alive.
I take a leaf
hidden from my sight
known only
by its touch.
smear it against
the house's wall
(Granny inside
snoring in sleep).
Here, an invisible berry
seen only by fingertips
squashed colour
staining the moment
with its magic
my hands all goosegog & damson.
And now
the stolen match
struck against
the world itself
making the crudely
drawn
emerge into being
the flame's flicker
making it come
alive
in my mind.
9 year old me
reaching...reaching
back through
the ages
touching time
as if it were
a tangible thing.
Knowing now
how the caveman felt
as he created
a creature
made from the destruction
of leaf and berry
springing into life
in the shadow's dance
a creature made of fire
and dark.
And then
the match goes out
& I am
9 again
hopping around
with burnt fingertips.
Watching time
as it collapses
become the boy
once more
frightened out of his
20th Century self
journeying through time
in the sudden
scratch of a stolen match.
Jul 26, 2015
Jul 26, 2015 at 4:36 PM UTC
Here, in country dark
the black so thick
one can almost
touch it
feel it
ooze out of the moment
...before time.
I am 9.
Cork is a somewhere
adrift in space
as I
this midnight child
steal from sleep
& into Granny's garden.
The dark erases
my physical body
until there is only me
thinking me
as if thought were
the only thing
keeping me alive.
I take a leaf
hidden from my sight
known only
by its touch.
smear it against
the house's wall
(Granny inside
snoring in sleep).
Here, an invisible berry
seen only by fingertips
squashed colour
staining the moment
with its magic
my hands all goosegog & damson.
And now
the stolen match
struck against
the world itself
making the crudely
drawn
emerge into being
the flame's flicker
making it come
alive
in my mind.
9 year old me
reaching...reaching
back through
the ages
touching time
as if it were
a tangible thing.
Knowing now
how the caveman felt
as he created
a creature
made from the destruction
of leaf and berry
springing into life
in the shadow's dance
a creature made of fire
and dark.
And then
the match goes out
& I am
9 again
hopping around
with burnt fingertips.
Watching time
as it collapses
become the boy
once more
frightened out of his
20th Century self
journeying through time
in the sudden
scratch of a stolen match.
