ANOTHER by Knute Skinner from City of Culture anthology, ‘Dream of a City’. The Clare based American’s poem is ‘Variations on a Line of Verse by Jo Slade’. What Jo’s line is, we are not told but the flat issue of banality in Skinner’s work is weighted and not with breathlessness. Timely, though.
Variations on a Line of Verse by Jo Slade
(for Enda)
Waiting is the possibility of something./ I’m waiting for the sun to set,/ and I’m waiting for the sun to rise./ Both things are possible./ I’m waiting for better weather./ That too.
Waiting is the possibility of something./ But is anyone waiting for a banker/ to say, “I’m sorry”?/ Is anyone waiting for the government to embrace the poor?
Waiting is the possibility of something./ I’ll wait with you at the bus stop./ I’ll wait with you for the paint to dry./ I’ll wait with you at the checkout counter.
If you were not here, Love, I’d wait for you always.
Astrolabe Press, 2014
