My character was the commander.
Me? A little man in the fleet afternoon
finishing the alphabet up with W.
How I err to be.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 25 April 1660.
Bibliophile
I had an oyster busy as a rose,
a pleasant room bigger
than a broke-open safe:
a great large book.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 24 April 1660.
Paradoxen
I had in my cabin
that dun cow, paradox:
that the sea was good at ninepins.
That we hear for our instruments—
locks singing to the blacksmith.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 23 April 1660.
Stunt Double
A strange thing, how every day
I am private eye for a statue,
set up in exchange after I fell
to writing, to morrow, to bed.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 22 April 1660.
Oysters
A boy is going to the king.
I enter his name in my book.
How many churches have
a barrel of pickled oysters?
Open the barber’s hands with
his own hands: a close business.
This letter is like a house—
a very well writ one.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 21 April 1660.
Eavesdropper
My window was infinite as a ring.
My head ached.
Sitting backwards, I heard a dove
speak with the day.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 20 April 1660.
Cocooning
A great burr did vex me in my hose.
A dove came on board whom
I do not know; it came to go.
I wrap myself up in a dry sheet.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 19 April 1660.
Resolutions
I stay, I cannot stay
in my own head.
I have made more light
than the Lord
and resolve to sit
and resolve to make way
and be undone.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 18 April 1660.
Credo
I command a pleasant plain,
as plain as night:
an open mind, clear
thoughts and happy.
No service in keeping
quiet, I talk
to bring a fresh sense
of the pleasure of life.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 17 April 1660.
Somnambulist
Lock me to sleep,
discharge me numb,
set me in writing—
and so to be.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 16 April 1660.