White-hot and a black burn:
mind and face.
I look for direction,
see money and a petticoat.
I have taken up with that dog,
that plenipotentiary death.
What a great profit I made.
How I cheated.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 8 March 1659/60.
These are getting better and better, I think – soaring, dipping, playing… I tend to be lazy about following daily projects, but am finding I never miss this. I think it’s the double voice that so strongly engages me. I’ve heard a lot Pepys read and dramatised very well on BBC radio and I hear that voice as well as yours, in a rollicking and poignant counterpoint.
Thank you, Jean — that’s wonderful feedback. And you’re the second commenter in a row to mention listening to an audio version of the diary, something I haven’t done, though there is an oral component to my process since I usually begin by reading the entry out loud.