Poem 158

Very tactile this one … I imagine it coming out of a corporation or ad agency grappling with the ultimate marketing challenge …

… the flesh here is flesh – but also represents all the resistant non-standard unable-to-be-wrangled inconveniences of human behaviour and experience …

The Memo On Flesh

Flesh is hard to handle
slices flop about and stick to everything
chunks seem to have a life of their own
whatever you do it's slippery
blood breaks out like sweat
the surface collects things
hair dust flies
flesh seems heavy dull and sullen
a backward student
flesh presents a packaging problem
the last of the great commodities
to come in from the cold