Fantasia on a Theme by TS Eliot | Giramondo Publishing
Giramondo

Basket

Your basket is empty.

Fantasia on a Theme by TS Eliot

I saw a vision of the street
that would confuse the street
a politician’s underpants
an aerogram from Paris, France
an invitation to the dance
(a balcony seat)

blow your nose, expectorate,
the world is filled with doctorates
waiting in the mist for a bus

*

The winter evening settles down
like a failed soufflé
a television glow
announces more than we’ll ever know
a play-within-a-play
evokes from its auditor a frown

*

Because I do not hope to think again…

*

Shall I dare to eat a Porsche?

Laurie Duggan

Poetry by Laurie Duggan is published in Series 2 of HEAT magazine.

More from this issue View all

Walk Like a CowA Rumination on Walking

HEAT 9. Star Dust
2005
As I walked towards home, I thought about this place where I lived; how strange it was in its familiarity. It was almost indescribable; this glum acceptance of where I lived, and an almost downbeat appreciation of whatever was right or wrong about this place, it was formed out of these moments of routine. The track the cows walked on was built from local scoria, cambered for drainage, yet I still know its potholes as intimately as the cows that formed tracks around them.
Read more

The Heart’s Small Hammering

HEAT 9. Star Dust
2005
‘I’m going to clone Rick,’ she once said to Megan. ‘Just give me a strand of his hair and I’ll make a duplicate.’ But that kind of talk made Megan nervous. Not that Jamie had any intention of cracking on to someone’s husband. But now, sitting on the edge of the bath, Jamie was careful to keep space between Rick and herself, to keep the conversation light.
Read more

The Umbrella

HEAT 9. Star Dust
2005
She turned towards Didier but tried to avoid looking at him. He bent his hair into her face as he kissed her neck. Then he pulled off her jumper. Her arms collapsed though the sleeves. She had retreated to the furthermost point of her mind and it was from there that she heard him as he busied himself with her zipper: a vagueness, a proximity only. She felt the sly removal of her underwear with some surprise. But how the surprise? What was she thinking?
Read more