Gunfire

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

I drink a draft of desire.
A gun gives widowhood
and the discourse of revenge:
to meet and dissolve, to issue hurt.
I was glad to hear a sermon
too eloquent for a pulpit—
the talking rain.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 19 February 1659/60.

11 Replies to “Gunfire”

  1. This is a stunner- such urgency and poignancy. I grow increasingly intrigued by what the dynamic is between first and second author – perhaps a very fluctuating one, depending on how open or already preoccupied your mind is on a particular day.

    1. Thanks. Yes, I guess so. I was just thinking this morning that I should really be working on more continuity between entries, and conceive of the project as a kind of plotless epic…

  2. Like it very much! Last tree rows blow my socks off. Just found you on Twitter, but I am allready your fan…so much pleasure, thank you! / Ylva

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