[My foot came to see my hand
as an impertinent echo,
a gone member, thinking how to stand—
a thing on whom no being went.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 17 February 1659/60.
Burden
[In the morning at my lute
the carrier will carry to the carrier
oranges and two barrels of sun
sake and sack, lamb and veal
a pocket to carry in his pocket
after supper at my flute]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 16 February 1659/60.
Funeral instructions
[Call up a merry rump
to carry to the grave.
Dine below the buttery
church of money.
Dine at a secluded grave
on the horse of the house.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 15 February 1659/60.
Fool’s progress
[In whose hall on the where hill with whom
I went
but my lute changed me — ha!
I shall be chosen to sit in Parliament
like a fool.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 14 February 1659/60.
Invitation to the mouth
[To dinner, my mouth,
to dinner I sell my mouth
(and a little supper),
to dinner, come,
live for the honor
of the open mouth!]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 13 February 1659/60.
Alter ego
[In the morning
he shouted at the fields
(the crooked fellow)
walked up and down
(the churchyard cock)
broke Barebone’s windows
and went home
(my dog-brother)]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 12 February 1659/60.
Revolution Revelation
[In the news,
the countenance of men
changed with joy.
I saw a beast singing
upon the tyrannical lamb.
The fanatic people lack
for nothing: bonfires,
all the bells in all
the churches ringing,
rumps tied upon sticks
and carried up and down.
The butchers rang
a peal with their knives
when they were going
to sacrifice their rump.
It was past imagination—
a street of fire.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 11 February 1659/60. (If you read no other entries from the diary, be sure to click through and read this one!)
Three things
[I saw three things belong to us:
shame and home and cancer.
Who can tell what world to order,
chosen according to what qualifications?
Give me a bed.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 10 February 1659/60.
Self-medication
I hear the horses of desire
go right to the surgeon.
Take me home and give
my poor spittle a drinking-house
where I pull down gates and portcullises:
alum to my mouth, plaster to my chin.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 9 February 1659/60.
To-do list
Practice walking; begin in the yard.
Afterwards, talk to a stone.
Do nothing.
Let a black dog into the kitchen
and eat a great head,
too much to boil.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 8 February 1659/60.