BLACKBIRD: JIG

Stop now & listen round the bough-top
I mean hang on a bit at the bus stop is that
Patric & his pals giving us the nod or is it
hi there yeah looking mysterious, what’s up?
    Pop yr laptop in yr satchel, he said,
                       let’s go.

We’ll give pleasant lectures at expensive
universities paddling happily along not
rocking any coracle or canoe between
overhanging willows of Fiction & Non
he said, a quiet by-water by a prize-rich
             sluice. How about you?

Mellow me with alcohol on a chilly winter’s
night followed by a little loving – who could
say no to that, right? – while dabbling in this
pool between fiction & its opposite: what do
               you think? You might?

Cards slap tables through the day hey-ho –
Polyurathane, Dust-bin, Dart-&-Grab.
What’s it all about? Is it Friday? I don’t know,
I need money. Scratch your head, kill the itch,
that histrionic heart (with the hand on it) or that
other on the dark stairwell fading up from … what?
Maps? Speeches? Stark bright bugle of a daffodil.                     

       Slip, tug, thread. Where am I now?
               And are you with me?
                           Hey. 

      Nonny nonny. This is a day. This is a
      moment in a day. Shadow-leaves move
      more lightly behind your head (than in it)
      in your hut-in-hiding & seem to shiver
      through the delicate outlines of their life
      & after-mark. Take care. Has this ever
                happened to anyone before?
               Who can tell. What the hell.
                          Ring a bell?

                             POEM

                              The oldest seed ever known to germinate
                              was a 2,000-year-old date-palm seed
                              retrieved from archaeological excavations
                              of King Herod’s palace. Seeds found during
                              the excavations lay in a drawer for 30 years
                              or more until someone thought they might try
                              to germinate them: one did.

                              The oldest seed ever known to germinate
                              was a 2,000 year old date-  alm seed
                             ved   om archaelog       tions
                              of K              lace.        nd d
                              t               ay    a    wer      0

Maurice Scully was born in Dublin in 1952 and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He is widely published in the UK, USA and Ireland. Recent publications include Humming (Shearsman Books, 2009), Doing the Same in English (Dedalus Press, 2008) & A Tour of the Lattice (Veer Books, 2011). The pieces published here for the first time are from the forthcoming book Several Dances. He is a member of Aosdana.