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Murderously simple thing

“She rightly read the moment while I stumbled through a second-hand text.”

– Jeanette Winterson

 

But second-hand texts

lay out

generations of patterns and internalised mess

How else

to mitigate

effect

other than

read, analyse, process

and beware. Be

vigilant

Words

Words that compress

Hide, elide, oppress

But words

Words that can also be light

Light, bright, delight

Lightly

he wields

adjectives:

toxic, cold-hearted

describing women

What to take

Break

When to leave well-enough alone

a comment made

Context

Jest

Rest

Put down the second-hand text

Look at his face

Grace

A moment. A moment

Reading a moment

Ideology of the gut, Arundhathi

said

But does it go away

the voice

Noise

the second-guess. Mess

internalised

Am I not wired to appreciate

Face

his face

Forgive. Forgive and forget

Of course he didn’t mean it

Gingerly he walks around the

word

obvious

after I blew a fuse

refused

to appreciate

well-meant

intent

That case

In and out

In and out

I move every day

changing angles on events

Determined. Determined

not to partake

I refuse

I refuse

Shall not let the system so huge

that is always used to getting its way

Get its way

No. No. Not

without a fight. Bloody

fight if it has to be

Whose blood? Okay, okay

Pause a moment

His face

 

I look at you and I would rather

look at you than all the

portraits in the world

 

Murderously simple thing

 

How to keep the ideology of the gut but not

lose

the passion of the mind on the way

Love

Okay, okay but to have

the self as well?

 

 

Thanks to Jeanette Winterson, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Frank O’Hara and Marina Tsvetaeva

Cover Image: Pixabay

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