from Report from the Betts Society, Vol. 1 No. 1
Lightning,
This
time in Weimar,
A
balcony. There.
Imagine
anything you want for all I care.
Wust.
East of nowhere.
(Consider
the train tracks.
Or
the sunshine to come.)
Or
I could say
Shadows
make up the past
And
what was your life.
Lament
it in song.
Please
don’t. I was only joking.
In
the morning after a storm …
Jesus,
there was carnage, all manner of
Deceit
had gone on, and there was a sing song too.
And
a fire if I’m not mistaken.
And
Brecht, let’s not forget him.
Insects
do harm.
I
was very sick that summer.
The
wind passed through me.
The
sun too.
I
wrote poems,
Which
have been destroyed or lost.
Jealous
city,
In
your ruins I consecrate their remains.
There
is a self
Seeking
direction, and a fortune,
If
you please.
My
soul trod wearily
The
road to you know where …
Tangermünde to Rathenow.
Look
it.
I’d
do it all again.
I’d do it differently though.
Without
God.
Without
you, too.
Paul Perry is an award-winning poet and novelist. He has published several collections of poetry, most recently Blindsight (above/ground press, 2020). He has also co-authored four international bestselling novels as Karen Perry, including The Innocent Sleep with Penguin Random House. He directs the Creative Writing Programme at University College Dublin. The Garden is his debut novel as Paul Perry. A new collection from Salmon, Jamais Vu, appears in 2022, and a new novel The Emperor of Hummingbirds in 2023.
