[I went by water to my father’s country,
crew buttery as lard, paper ship
to transport me and my tired work.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 25 January 1659/60.
Cut Up
[Where will I go
when we call one another mad,
pulling off bride’s and bridegroom’s ribbons,
fooling like mad five o’clock scissors
with my papers?]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 24 January 1659/60.
Game
[Down came the axe and found my head,
which made very pretty beef.
I stayed and played a dark stone,
being round and great.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 23 January 1659/60.
Buckles to my shoes
[I sat with duty and guilt and shame,
a brother to the poor.
This day I began to put on buckles to my shoes.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 22 January 1659/60.
Domestic arrangements
[Took leave of all the keys
and the old told clock
there in the city of money
where I drank an hour,
where a black chair resolved
to satisfy the bed.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 21 January 1659/60.
Jole of Ling
[In the morning I drank at the Sun,
at the Swan in Fish Street,
at our Goal Feast,
at our Jole of Ling,
and after a good cup of ale I shot a scholar.
I drank at the burial of a young bookseller,
drank to his going.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 20 January 1659/60.
Interiority complex
[For kindness I stumble
and tell not heart but harp,
give the country of my mind
some night notes.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 19 January 1659/60.
Koan
[Letters from his son, but his son did not come.
Merry was he drinking wine with the key
to her lodging and my lodgings.
What answer to give to a monk
saying be, saying be for?]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 18 January 1659/60.
Killing melancholy
[The child killed his melancholy out of doors.
I heard voices that told me likewise to turn,
told me to talk with a knave,
told me to give.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 17 January 1659/60.
Twickenham
[I went to Twickenham to sit
I went to Twickenham to think
alone in a closet
I played on my flageolet
till the bell-man came by with his bell
and left my wife and the maid a-washing still.]
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 16 January 1659/60.