On Balance by Morrissey Sinead;

Author:Morrissey, Sinead; [Sinead Morrissey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4932586
Publisher: Carcanet
Published: 2017-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

when it’s time

ARTICULATION

And these, ladies and gentlemen, are the bones

of Napoleon’s horse, Marengo. Articulated thus

– tibia to fibula, scapula to humerus,

appendicular skeleton latched to the dome

of the spine and the thin ribs’ hanging flaps

encasing the space of the missing heart –

he seems refashioned out of a craft kit,

a balsawood model everyhorse, perhaps.

I am looking at eyes that looked at the Emperor

is nothing, however, to this: neither a coffee pot

nor toothbrush, nor His finest pearl-grey coat

from the mausoleum; not plaster

squeezed into the shape of what’s been lost

to bring it back to life as a death mask,

a punched-through backwards photograph

of itself; nor any of the things embossed

by use or touch or freer association

(loose talk, hearsay) with His shining likeness –

these very hooves trod mud at Austerlitz,

this very sacrum made final victory certain.

Moreover, put your eye to the eye socket

(one by one and gently) and observe

what changes: your straight perspective curves,

the floor on which you’re standing tilts,

the room’s clear atmosphere thickens

and as mirrors angled off against each other

produce an endless vaulted corridor

to somewhere else, still truer things are given:

of-all-the-Russias snow, a sky of smoke,

the bite of iron, entrails in a heap,

curled up like an outgrown foal, a man asleep

inside a horse’s ruptured stomach …

That’s how close Marengo stands to history –

Sphenoid, Vomer, Lacrimal, Mandible –

for however long he lasts before he crumbles,

portal, time machine, skeleton key

to what cannot be imagined. Who could resist

a ticket to the steaming blooded fields

of Europe just as the dog star fades?

Hold your breath now while I show you this.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.