body – Ruru ki Te Ruru

body

you have   a   s k i n fu l of it / the smell   day hid
leaves   r e me m b e r
on   the   e v e n i n g .   it    r I s e s
like     the d ark   from flowers.

you’ve shrunk to a distant cool that s k i n f u l

of   r a i n   you held closed    at the
shoulders   this morning   / a stone
taken   full under   the flow of mind   that would break   the surface
were it to e a s e / cause
speech.
the   r a i n   collapsing
on the   a i r   no strength
could   right it.

you’ve   had    a     s k i n f u l   of the most   disguised words
slipped   in love / glances
the accidental touch   of those   we were
always most taken with /
hung-over   you go through   it again   in good faith   you
call   it   /   come to   it
in the body.

january 1990

The music accompanying the reading is from the opening movement of the Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 and interpreted here in performance by Martha Ärgerich (piano), Edgar Moreau (cello) & Renaud Capuçon (violin) in October 2016 at the Philharmonie de Paris.