Poem 180

A sequence included in my Original Composition portfolio in 1984, the organising principle is the four elements – earth air fire water – with a poem for each …

… the bird-man as thematic character is something to do with the splice, what Baudelaire wrote about as Spleen and Ideal – dual (or triple or quadruple) identity – fluidity or the contending poles of self …

… the first poem echoes Icarus via W.H. Auden via Brueghel …  there are twelve ‘ea’ dipthongs in the first half of Tide giving it a kind of cohesive semi-rhyme …

… the second poem references the fairytale The Six Swans from the Brothers Grimm … one of the classic dreams we dream is the freedom of birdlike flight – and somewhere I read that the three primal fears of human beings are loud noises, heights and falling, all of which are neatly rolled together in the experience of a bird (or bird-man) being shot down …

… the third poem is partly an obscure joke, drilling soldiers for a 21-gun salute and accidentally shooting down something extraordinary – the earthbound, the prosaic, the vulgar vs. the airy stuff of dreams … I like how the title also suggests fall honours, the double meaning of fall in, the bird claw still clutching a high tension line, the drill sergeant’s patter, how the elements are encircled in afloat aflame aflutter and the rhyme of done it and plummet … 

… I remember Bill Manhire saying the last poem has the feel of a riddle which is what I was going for – roast fish in banana leaves being the solution to the puzzle of what single thing could embody all the four elements, could draw the divided shot down smashed up bird-man together … )

Bird Man

i    Tide

Broken on the sea
in an oil slick of blood
the bird man lies
leaking the gallons
that seal up the sea
that the waves hump under
unable to burst
and seabirds are clogged
and clumsy with blood
and red streaming dolphins
must leap to breathe
and leap till they die
and beaches are smeared
in the dull congealing tide
moving into land
sailors splashed
all fleets moving the same
under silent red colours
and still the bird man bleeds
floating staring up at
scarlet sunset cloud
the darkening water reflecting
the red light raining down



ii     Flying

And the last luckless brother
for being the youngest
was left with one swan's wing
a mutant a loner
a reminder of a bad time
and when he stretched that white wing
behind the barn
where no one could see
still
he was little match for you
bird man
thinking of flight
a dream trick as fundamental
as the three fears
loud noises heights falling
and when he untucked that stump
powerful splintering a man's nose
in a fight
and stretched full out
soft strong absurdly grafted
to a bitter brother
bird man it pointed at you
owner of a dream
and well acquainted 
with a sudden loud noise
a falling
from a height



iii     Full Honours

Fall in
with a gun shooting
true as a rainbow
fall in
like a chip of space
fused claw of a crow
sliced on a power line
fall in
one foot spitting into earth
together in time
fall in like a body
out of a cupboard
out of a plane
fall in
           fall out again
not quick enough
ragged as arse-paper
as sheep dags
a goat's shaggy eyebrow
when I say now
you say how
high catches off
colours up
one mother's son
jumps the gun
and that's done it
torn it
            now
afloat
aflame
aflutter 
he comes
bird man with a plummet
in his throat



iv     Into The Fire

Ridden on air
ridden in water
and fallen
between the two
tumbling
tearing
wrapped in curtains
of spray
of coloured cloud
endless membranes
catching
and collapsing
a hand has cupped
the volcano
breathed
the coal back to flame
in all your cold closeness
your wrappings
you arrive
roast fish
in banana leaves