last enjoyable moments in the brief life of a fly
.
Karen Bookguilder is intended to be a collection of poems 60 poems expressly for the Book Guild
by Mike Burr - the themes being dictated by or about its published artisans .
Fly
was in - was out - was in - was out
never in but always roundabout
and somewhere there and somewhere else and out
always there or buzzing thereabout
the phone it rang and sang and sang
until the walls they screamed and up they sprang
heaps of helpless plaster sobbing on the floor
and patterned paper curling on the ground
neither flat and neither round
nor up - nor down
distraught, its pattern bled and fled
a wailing as it flew
was in - was out - was in - was out
always flying round about
i ate the flying debris
off i flew
up was down, and round was round
the doorbell made a buzzing sound
and opened up and opened down
swung here or there mocking air and mocking ground
was closed open - opened closed
as carpets rolled and decomposed
and from the carpet footsteps sprang
a shoe curling like an acrobat
took through the curling air
put paid to this and that
a splat
was in - was out - was in - was out
body flat, once a body fat
was out - was out - was definitely out