A Closer Look
Eric Pankey, Dismantling the Angel
Smoke and fire, ash and fog,
birds flying in formation,
unseen shadows in the night.
Restless poems trace what you saw
out of the corner of your eye
or might have once believed in.
You want to flesh out these stories
but there are too many versions
and more to write about when
you take a closer look. The language
seems to mute you: you are happy
to be quiet and let others speak.
Wind in the attic, distant crows,
soot and dust, animals and angels.
How to put things back together
now words have taken them apart?
© Rupert M Loydell
Rupert Loydell is a writer, editor and abstract artist. His many books of poetry include Dear Mary (Shearsman, 2017) and The Return of the Man Who Has Everything (Shearsman 2015); and he has edited anthologies such as Yesterday’s Music Today (co-edited with Mike Ferguson, Knives Forks and Spoons Press 2014), and Troubles Swapped for Something Fresh: manifestos and unmanifestos (Salt, 2010).
