5 Fugue ALISON CROGGON
poetry remembers
everything that exhaustion
strews across a wasteland
where people walk in old shoes
with their love darkening
in sad baskets of flesh
once I sat on a train
and watched the clouds set fire
to a city of blank windows
once a little girl
whispered me a song
and I saw that my gaze
was the garden she plays in
I don't want to leave
forgetting all these gifts
granted to my secret
and undeserving heart
there is a hand which opens
and a hand shutting
there is a name
and a garden of weeds
there is a snake
which sings a dream of flame
springing from cold ashes
there is a knife which trembles
through the joyous waters
of each mute tongue
from New Music (Five Islands Press, 2001), edited by John Leonard. Used and reprinted by permission.
Click here for a reading by Alison Croggon of Edith Speers's "Love Sonnet #9," followed by this poem.
Click here for a video of the Melbourne premiere of Leonard Lehrman's setting, Jan. 5, 2002.