Palimpsest / Silhouette

(From ‘Fragments of Unease (Depositions – with aphasia – after surgery)’)

by Stephen C. Middleton

The door has warped in the frost. There are 300 dead in the Mediterranean, after an
overloaded boat sank. The Mare Nostrum (programme) is no more. Sore & shaky – thoracic
& cervical spine. A blame game here / a climate – it’s a banker (as it were). The dumbbells
must be held, thus. And, outside; winter’s petrified leaves. A stain / a palimpsest. Chill
breezes. The skeleton exposed (Or; Skeletal – exposed). What remains (out of Perec – not
Larkin). A darker weave. The silhouettes of Hiroshima.