Poem 125

This is based on the song Third Uncle by Brian Eno – from his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) which became a foundation of my record collection in 1977) – and was impelled by wondering who was this enigmatic ‘you’ he was talking about … ?

… I was impressed by the way increasing the number of lines and rhymes in each stanza gave the song (and the poem) momentum … it was designed to be read out loud and I can remember including it in a reading that David Geary, Lynn Davidson, Sara Knox and I did in the student union common room at Victoria in ’85 or ’86 …

( et in arcadia ego loosely means ‘even in paradise I (death) am’ – but this is not paradise, it’s evidently an institution … influenced by One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest perhaps … )

Fourth Uncle (et in arcadia ego)

There are sheets there are beds
there are pillows clutching heads

then there is you


there are cries there are laughs
there are nights full of gasps
there are snickerings of wheels
bearing trays of stainless steel

then there is you


there are games there are books
television only look
there are tables there are chairs
there are glances there are stares
in a room without a view

then there is you


there is power there is grace
there is nothing out of place
there is music there are songs
everyone plays along
there are voices thin or hoarse
there are arms there is force
there is duty there is due

then there is you


break their arms break your voice
break the lines that bind your choice
burn the books burn the games
burn the sheets burn the stains
drown the laughs drown the cries
drown the songs that always lied
take the nights take the days
take the steel from off the tray
and in a moment
here is you

and then there is you