In Partibus Infidelium

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

Up early, in pink light
I see rock and a broken land,
the house sunk where children were born—
one of our villages, but for the language.
The people eat fish
but play at physician, a clapper
to frighten the birds
away from the corn.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 19 May 1660.

Skeptic

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

I hear the wind speak:
nothing but epitaph,
brass angels crying.
The church, a poor man’s box
that binds any guest
to the dying light
like some great weight.
I go down to the water
with my echo:
to say is to know.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 18 May 1660.

Heaven

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

The king is naked and mad,
the queen wagers the whole world
on heaven—a strange country.
I hide in a wagon
with one horse.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 17 May 1660.

Writer’s Confession

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

As tailors cut pieces of cloth into a flag,
I like to give a word exceeding grace,
open it to hurl, war, harp,
take it to the mouth as prayer and flesh.
I am old and very strange with letters.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 13 May 1660.

Sailor’s Advice

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

Boy in the bay, stay
and understand:
letters only attend
the coming of a sail.
Midway, we could see
places very pleasant;
the further we went,
the more we lost sight.
At cards, I come to see
my fruitless precaution,
getting without book
when I can get the book.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 12 May 1660.

Tastes Like Chicken

Homage to Novica Tadić

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

A great hen, very angry, began
to pull down the dove and the lark,
a pretty dish.

The mouth dropped thirty guns
in a high debate with the sea.

It blew hard. The great fowl’s
mother was put to bed.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 11 May 1660.