A Poem from Simon

[FranktheFrank]

Simon Costello - Contemporary Irish Poet of Renown (i.e. he's still alive)


Taxidermy Ethics for Beginners

Outside a dog is hollowing out the chest of a cat
that’s been knocked down by one of the neighbour’s vans
who even now I’m certain will never come forward
and admit to it

but while I watch this animal sustain itself on the particles of another
I know somewhere a local bistro is throwing fresh scallops
into the recycling bin
while a child’s boat made of newspaper slips
down a storm drain

And fifty years earlier Robert Lowell is rinsing out
his private correspondence with Elizabeth Hardwick
compiling them into what will be published as ‘The Dolphin’
See it’s this divisive segment of my zoom lecture
the consequences of his practise not only
for the other party involved
but the broader implications it would have
on ethics in writing that has me thinking
of when our teeth collided into ivory fragments at noon
how we pocketed each other’s dislodged bones
the way limestone cradles fossil in its yellow basement

And like a depleted cat taken home from a roadside and posed
I’ve never felt more emptied

because even now I hear the scratching
of the Polish sculptor I keep in the dormer attic
sitting down to the model suspended mid air
gorging his hands on moist clay summoning
an interpretation of anatomy from spun muck
as they exist in the eye as static atoms
and like a maguey worm
paused midsentence
in a bottle of Mezcal
all this
is nothing
but distilled freefall

And it hurts to think of them up there
ghosting in this private exchange
relativism dictates that by the end
what is produced will look anything but human
so the model’s identity is protected
and isn’t this nominally ethical?

Wouldn’t the opposite be to drag you out into the middle of traffic?
Just as the scallops are beginning to turn
as animals are being stamped with perpetual license plates
pry wide your Adonis husk
set off fireworks from your ribcage
ignite your name in the sky
and say This cannibal lance work is uncompromising art

and will you believe me
when I say I did it all for you?
*****

Comment by ieuan ap
After reading Simon's excellent poem I find I feel very good about my own work.
My work is long but not as long as Simon's
My work is meandering, but not as much as his.
Sometimes my work is compared to a rant, no complaint from me, like Simon's ?

[BobBradshaw]

I don’t know this poet’s work, but this piece is pretty ragged. The Robert Lowell stanza is poorly written. Why did you post this? And why did you call it an excellent poem? Just curious

[FranktheFrank]

I agree with your summation, Bob.
They guy has had a great write-up and is a famous modern Irish poet it seems.
I just wondered why and wanted to see if anyone agreed with me.

I think I said that tongue-in-cheek Bob.