I was sat in a square in Madrid in the bright sunshine, enjoying a drink and watching the people around me.
There was one young man who slowly savoured a glass of beer while he read a thick paperback novel. When he was approached by a young woman he knew, he came alive. They walked off deep in each others company.
A musician was playing the clarinet, and before him, a man had played the guitar for whatever coins the people saw fit to give him.
A group of men at the edge of the square were drinking from beer cans and talking.
Two pigeons bisected the air overhead and no one looked up from the details of their lives to see them.
This is the genesis of the poem.
Madrid,
29 March, 2016
This
square has no statue.
His
too short trousers flash blue socks,
he
does not care, she is with him,
his
arm tentatively across her shoulders.
Two
women serious faced,
discuss
disillusionment.
Peripheral
men lean on the waste bin,
shooting
the shit in stained clothes,
drink
beer in warm tins.
They
do not spill one drop.
Synthesised
music accompanies the clarinettist,
as
he attempts to entertain for small change.
Overhead
two pigeons turn on a cent,
right
angling the still air.
No
one looks up.
I've just downloaded Laura Gibson's new album Empire Builder. Here's the title track.
You don't dress it up do you Paul. Off-hand geometry gets the measure of the immeasurable. No showy back-flips just the thing itself pure in a vacuum of the moment to suck in the curious.
ReplyDeleteLove the Empire Builder - always love the "On the road" feel to big sky American art. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Oscar, your opinion is valued, as ever.
DeleteLaura is touring UK [briefly next week] Manchester and London- well worth catching. Live she's tremendous.
So glad you are writing again.