Two pretty ladies
kiss the two blades with them.
I drop my rapier.
We walk up and down the town.
In every door, the moon.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 14 May 1660.
Writer’s Confession
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
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
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.
Sick
This morning, a whore; this afternoon, music.
I was sick in the evening.
At night, while my lord was at supper, I went
to bed, to bed, to bed.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 10 May 1660.
Public Relations
A letter from the general:
my duty is to kill; my power, to write;
my mission, to proclaim with great praise.
Under the story of the king is the king.
He calls me a very knowing man.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 9 May 1660.
Ratted Out
After dinner come several lush lutes.
While we were at play, my wife went to hunt,
and brought her bow here
to the hole of a fleet rat
at the bottom of a bed.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 8 May 1660.
Of Ships and Bottles
A bottle in a ship in a boat:
what arms and flags?
Silk clothes, a rich
noise of fiddlers.
What will be the entertainment?
Jurates of the town
and the vice-admiral.
Where to drink?
In the lost ship,
in bed in my cabin,
where I gave the bottle
a merry good night.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 7 May 1660.
Dreaming in Church
At sermon, I doze.
I remember a large man of small mien
who told me my convulsions gave
great contentment to the Lord.
I look over my accounts
and find a sea in my purse.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 6 May 1660.
How to Live
A quaint command:
think of kindness, thank for kindness.
After supper, good music and bed.
Strew the streets with herbs for joy of going.
Never pray for happiness as long as the sun
and moon endure.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 5 May 1660.