every command was once a miscue

Journey back North went smoothly yesterday - the train from Bristol to Edinburgh was busy (particularly up to Birmingham!) but arrived in Edinburgh right on time ...

... I mentioned that we had a bit of a 'Bristol Bookshop Day' during last week - thus, here's a Les Murray poem, taken from within the only volume (printed in 1993) that I managed to purchase that day:


Cell DNA

I am the singular
in free fall.
I and my doubles
carry it all:

life's slim volume
spirally bound.
It's what I'm about,
it's what I'm around.

Presence and hungers
imbue a sap mote
with the world as they spin it.
I teach it by rote.

but its every command
was once a miscue
that something rose to,
Presence and freedom

re-wording, re-beading
strains on a strand
making I and I more different
than we could stand.

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Les Murray (1938 - 2019)

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