Visiting Tom I was impressed
by the scale of his six year old's paintings
as well as the tremendous industry
with which she produced them.
But what are you going to do with them all? I asked.
She looked solemn.
I really don't know, she said,
that's the problem with art isn't it?

In Heather's studio we drank Polish lager
and stared at a black plastic pail
containing 99 used pacemakers.
As strong disinfectant digested
the last adhering scraps of tissue she said:
Obviously they're symbolically powerful but as an artist
how can I possibly improve
on a bucket of broken hearts?

There was no suggestion in those days
that organised Odinism even existed in Britain. It was only
after both the Prime Minister and the Shadow Chancellor
confessed their devotion to a Persian matador-god
that followers of rival mysteries unmasked themselves.

The anthropologist listened intently
to the details of the ritual robing of the shamans,
the liturgy of numbers chanted backwards,
the three day voyage to another world and the return
with a secret and transformed knowledge of this one.
It did not occur to him that Neil Armstrong had literally
flown to the Moon.

In the casting of runes there is an elision
of the gap between description and prescription.
They are a kind of writing with the power to predict
and it's hard to say if they see the surveillant future
or create it.

When the new legislation was introduced
its advocates were essentially well-meaning. They genuinely believed
that by restricting speech they would save lives.

Tied to a living tree for three days
Odin travelled in spirit to Hel
where he lost an eye and gained the secret of runic writing.

Like him we were shamanic tourists
waiting for the frothing seer at the centre of the ceremony
to make magic out of words,
to transform representation into reality.
I mean that's the problem with poetry, isn't it?
Meanwhile forces loyal to the new regime
grew dense like flies around us and digested
the last adhering scraps of tissue.

© 2007

See also:
Heather's pacemakers