Thatcher at the Guildhall
your pupils are hollow
(o)
between the eyebrows
w contraction
a marble nose job
lost in a nostril
an ear hole
tucked under the coif
muffled by the perm
anent wave
down drawn lines
frame the lip
neck wrinkles
sign a cut
the severity
I think I am being watched
she is safe behind glass
I am reflected
head height to her waist
bizarre innit?
men in white shirts
black tie and trousers
hello, how are you?
I’m number 6
you’re not a number,
you’re a free man
she is poised
— ready to dash —
a brow beat
against the case
her jacket is ruled in lines
buttoned up
three large
large
but tons
what is held back
what cannot be given
book curling
in hand
the law in my grasp
our Stationery Office
taken further away
con tract ed out
White on
(o)
between the eyebrows
w contraction
a marble nose job
lost in a nostril
an ear hole
tucked under the coif
muffled by the perm
anent wave
down drawn lines
frame the lip
neck wrinkles
sign a cut
the severity
I think I am being watched
she is safe behind glass
I am reflected
head height to her waist
bizarre innit?
men in white shirts
black tie and trousers
hello, how are you?
I’m number 6
you’re not a number,
you’re a free man
she is poised
— ready to dash —
a brow beat
against the case
her jacket is ruled in lines
buttoned up
three large
large
but tons
what is held back
what cannot be given
book curling
in hand
the law in my grasp
our Stationery Office
taken further away
con tract ed out
White on
White
Paper
a tHeatre producer/ events organiser
/ unemployed man
arranged A babysitter
for his two year old son
bought a cricket bat/ Slazenger V600
((handle in Trousers
head in cagoule))
ran at the seven foot two
eyes of white
marble lady
pings
off
seized an iron stanChion/
eight foot scaffolding pole
aimed for tHe nose
de
cap
it
ate
it was capitation
that removed her
the poll tax
a numbering of heads
Capital attack
Paul K(elleher)a tHeatre producer/ events organiser
/ unemployed man
arranged A babysitter
for his two year old son
bought a cricket bat/ Slazenger V600
((handle in Trousers
head in cagoule))
ran at the seven foot two
eyes of white
marble lady
pings
off
seized an iron stanChion/
eight foot scaffolding pole
aimed for tHe nose
de
cap
it
ate
it was capitation
that removed her
the poll tax
a numbering of heads
Ekleksographia #1
January 2009
Poems
Frances Presley
Frances Presley was born in Derbyshire, and grew up in Lincolnshire and Somerset. She now lives and works in London. Her recent books of poetry are Paravane: new and selected poems, 1996–2003 (Salt, 2004) - the title sequence is a response to 9/11/2001, and to the IRA bombsites in London; and Myne: new and selected poems and prose, 1976–2006, (Shearsman Books, 2006) with its innovative explorations of the landscape of Exmoor. These include ‘Stone settings’, part of a collaboration with the poet Tilla Brading, which realigns archaeological texts and neolithic sites. Presley has also co-translated the work of the Norwegian poet Hanne Bramness: Salt on the eye, (Shearsman Books, 2007).