Monday 7 April 2014

Over-exposed, Like an X-Ray

A “Birthday Letters” Cento

They simply came and kept on coming…

Suddenly, I read all this,
Suddenly, Lucas engineered it, suddenly you
In the flat house asked, suddenly…

They simply came and kept on coming…

And suddenly everybody knew everything
In a gilded theatre, suddenly empty
Suddenly out of water, easy as oil

They simply came and kept on coming…

Suddenly, it swooped up, splaying its pinions,
When she suddenly rounded her eyeballs.
And was stilled. Or was suddenly aflame.

They simply came and kept on coming…

Suddenly, something gave, the sweat burst out
I felt things had become real. Suddenly, mother,
Suddenly, “What’s that? Who’s that?”
Suddenly, plainly, it was a bat.

(Which, being Ted Hughes, he probably shot)

(All lines taken from different poems from "The Birthday Letters"... apart from the parting shot, ho-ho.)

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