Paul Farley, “Johnny Thunders Said”

You can’t put your arms around a memory.
The skin you scuffed climbing the black railings
of school, the fingertips that learned to grip
the pen, the lips that took that first kiss
are gone, my friend. Nothing has stayed the same.
The brain? A stockpot full of fats and proteins
topped up over a fire sotked and tended
a few decades. Only the bones endure,
stilt-walking trhough a warm blizzard of flesh,
making sure the whole thing hangs together,
our lifetimes clinging on as snow will lag
bare branches, magnifying them mindlessly.
Dear heart, you’ve put a brave face on it, but know
exactly where the hugs and handshakes go.

The Atlantic Tunnel is a selection of poems from four previous collections by Paul Farley; the poem above is immediately preceded by “Tramp in Flames,” the title poem of a volume shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize…

Other Farley poems include “Monopoly” (published in The Poem) and “Cyan” (Granta), the latter of which leads off the section of new poems in The Atlantic Tunnel. New Yorkers will have a chance to hear more from Farley Tuesday night; he’s reading at 192 Books with Paul Muldoon.

Embedding has been disabled for the video of Farley reciting “Liverpool Vanishes for a Billionth of a Second,” but I encourage you to go have a look.

16 May 2010 | poetry |