The Friday Poem: ‘escher x nendo’ by Michele Leggott

A poem from Michele Leggott’s forthcoming book Face to the Sky.

escher x nendo

I hear you Eddie Woo
coming clear across the galleries
of intercochlear space
you have the measure of these galaxies
earthmeasure
you have the measure of their difference
earthmisia
you translate one world
artemisia
and here is the other
artmeasure
how did we get here
but by sleight of hand
legerdemain
tomorrow’s light clear
across the galleries and your words
measuring making breaking
the spaces between
where I am and where you are
making breaking measuring
words between
my house and yours your house and mine
galleries and galaxies
of seashell space and the distance we cross
susurrus
to measure earth and art and come again
within range of the song

crossing Gertrude
crossing Gertrude
crossing Gertrude

a chandelier of fifty thousand houses
a nebula the shape of a crab-claw sail
nendo is clay
where is the word for star
who is listening to the angelic life of moss
a dialogue
and respect for representing imagining

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed.