If only I could
investigate
record my findings
maintain this
present my ideas coherently
define them
identify my main sources of reference
explain my working methods
answer questions
(from my tutor and fellow students)
put forward my written proposal
(detailing all necessary information)
I'd be fine
When all is done I turn
to words
(the cat sits in the hallway,
waiting
to pounce)
When the only thing to do
is nothing,
why
does something
have
to be done?
Why is this house so big? Why
do the cats
shit
on the landing?
Why
has the wine
all gone?
Because.
Because I'm your mother,
that's why
It might be an earth work
turning the land
into something else
or more like itself
It might be a scream
It might be something meant
or
simply
an
exercise
It might be the first idea I had
or something more
considered
It might be colours
(cobalt, maybe)
and music
It might be a spider's thread
thrown
from here to there
trembling
It might be something
or nothing
It might work
or play
I wish
I knew
Life is all very well
until
it's not.
You (I) can just
keep on keeping on until
one evening
when
there's no coal and the last log
smoulders,
gasping
When silence screams
in your (my) ears
and the task
will not come right
When the thing you (I)
said you (I)
were (was) going to do
simply didn't get done
and the dead
line
looms
