Museworthy: The Earth's Flower
for Tomaz Salamun
How clear this is!
You can see right through to the terror
at its centre.
I don't want to be watching the man
who's lost half his body
when he turns to catch me staring.
Shall I show him my dirty palm
where the single-legged flower balances
because of the thinness
of the earth's crust?
It doesn't grow, doesn't die, inserts itself
between my hand and whatever
I try to touch: the person hidden
as image in glass, water, metal,
plastic, ceramic; the poem that keeps
racing back to its master;
contaminated waste that bears warning
signs and consumes
the world's taxes.
How muddy this all is!
I heard them say in the media as the blossom
was looked at from all angles
but I simply pulled on my gloves thereby hiding salvation
and set about polishing every blind eye.
BY MTC CRONIN
MTC Cronin has had seven books of poetry published, the most recent being Bestseller (Vagabond Press, 2001) and My Lover's Back — 79 Love poems (UQP, 2002). After being employed for most of the 1990s in law, she has in recent years begun teaching literature and creative writing at secondary schools and universities. She is currently working on a PhD, Poetry and Law: Discourses of the Social Heart. Her books are available by contacting her at <margie_cronin@hotmail.com> or phone (02) 9550 2918.
From Green Left Weekly, June 26, 2002.
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