The whole world seemed right then a fat embarrassing failure.
What good was the human game if few people understood
one another, despite all our attempts at clarity?
*
I thought and felt that Raimonde’s disappointment was complete,
Disappointment not in me (for i’d always been only
His paid adviser, one of many, appointed by law)
But in any expectations he might still have retained
Of being felt before he had to justify himself
(And fail and fail, words being the necessary failure).
*
For a minute or two we sat in a silence outlined
By the purring of the car-engine and interrupted
By two or three sighs, a thudding grunt and a distinct snort
From Raimonde’s head shaking from side to side in disbelief
At the balls that had just rolled past an old counsellor’s lips.
*
Many lean on the crutch of melodramatic gestures
In the face of the slightest disturbance to their balance
Or, rather, to their sense of control over how things should
Carry on within the limited light (it is always
Limited light) of the way in which they have been before
Seen.
(*fatima solagua arterra’s nudes* by Brian Chan, 2015)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 