This is the final draft for Gary tho' others may want to say something.

TALKING OF MICHELANGELO

has turned desire into whimsical anxiety
its comings and goings an iamb of gossip
walking in and out the grocery store, all passions
contained in sealed tins and crackling packets.

The acceptance is that potatoes all wear jackets
for all transitions involve a version of death.
Where snakes shed their skins so do we,
among our daily artefacts to prime existence.

Outside the door different classes chatter
behind invisible barriers and take up different poses.

The medecine for each sleeps in separate doses
unreached for until talk gets round to Michelangelo.
We begin to know that beauty from his age and ours
is locked in closed galleries, as levity continues to grow.

Michael and Joe from further down the street
repeat their received wisdom, so sweet,
repeat the words to a drum, its electronic beat
contrary to each heart it comes to meet.

Outside the door different classes chatter
behind invisible barriers and take up different poses.

Leonardo, the storekeeper, knows of greater wisdom,
though only in soundbites and hourly newsflashes.
Michael and Joe make their passes at girls as they talk,
hip sway in short dresses, exchange all the gossip they know.

Uneasy minds make blue sky thoughts, force issues  as they talk,
talk, talk and pretend they know as much as Michelangelo.
Round and round they go as night follows another day
and nothing will go away until talk returns to Michelangelo.

James Bell


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