GLASFRYN, LLANGATTOCK, POWYS NP8 1PH
+44(0)1873 810456 | LYN@GLASFRYNPROJECT.ORG.UK
Introduction.
My versions of Leopardi’s first 21 poems came out from Equipage in 2017 under the title via Leopardi 21. The following poems are from the second half of his poetic output. My Leopardi project is influenced by Stephen Rodefer’s wonderful Villon versions, especially in the employment of footnotes. These poems are therefore dedicated to his memory, and that of John James, ‘il migio fab bro, whose moving cadences, deft manoeuvres & expert nightcap recommendations have kept me going for years.’
Peter Hughes, Bethesda, Epiphany 2021
via Leopardi 22
talk about these northern constellations
nor did I expect to come back here
& contemplate our eerie dispositions
from a high window in my parents’ house
back across the evening’s vacant courtyards
you reminding me of hedgehogs & compost
from goats & donkeys’ years ago
my vast imaginings about the future
never had me standing here like this
still wearing these unprepossessing trousers
& staring through my back-lit reflection
at so much interrupted emptiness
I didn’t think I’d have to spend so long
among resentful locals either
affecting interest in their football team
as all this ancient rain goes down the drain
the damaged van abandoned
bobbing & rotating in the flooded lay-by
There is nothing quite like excessive rain running down the drains at night outside a house you used to live in. Anonymous new neighbours peer out suspiciously at this stranger then quickly draw the curtains.
via Leopardi 25
the poet gets carried away again
well reckless sex on an office chair with wheels
& this severely sloping floor
will always introduce an element
of unpredictability
yet I cannot agree with the Maestro
that happiness cannot exist
before we crash into the wall
on the good ship Lustprinzip
how like you this she stepped out of her
towel & condensation & why not
fuck to a little velvet underground
as the sticky winter Sunday afternoon
or is it Thursday wondering which way to
turn not knowing from which of these angles
to regard you & your current presences
well this will do as well as the next
what Jack wouldn’t have given
to have shrugged off his cardigan
anxieties & cold despair
to have spent just an hour
as the sun goes down
& so do I
& the old year
groans &
comes
to an awareness of felicity
as you walk my plank
I walk yours &
what is that you’re rubbing
on & in my back
& front an unexpected blend of Beethoven aniseed
balls & hot chocolate
it smells a lot like guacamole
& still you hold my eye from that position
leaning slightly to the left then
banking into this tremendously
tight bend
This poem was written to slip into one of those dummy books on a shelf in a furniture showroom which has sadly closed.
via Leopardi 27
love or death
love or hake
death or cake
approach it at an angle
those hours in Recanati
when you couldn’t think of love
without a little death
erecting an insubstantial
monument no sooner sensed
than woken from another
hopeless dream of goats
& gnats & scarecrows in west Cambridge
or just another Woody Allen film
I’m sorry that Tom Raworth’s gone
I contemplate his collage
where every multi-coloured window
is an opening on
love as well as death
could be an opening on
anything that was & is
or might be sometime soon
I recommend the fishcakes & prosecco
followed by the nutty chocolate hearts
keep an eye out for the odd bone
don’t go to bed
too late
The influence of Leopardi on Eddie Izzard was but one of the interesting topics covered in my rejected PhD. proposal to the University of Ancona, or maybe Ascoli Piceno. I’m pretty sure it was an A town.
via Leopardi 29
I was so attracted
by your static
allure Aspasia I a
hovering sausage
dog with no legs
yet the closest I
got was you rubbing
me against your jumper
then sticking me
to the wall of the lobby
during the lowest point
of a birthday party for your kids
I thought you were a kind
of goddess in Ugg boots
enveloped in a glowing
cloud of of mint & yogurt
flavoured hairspray
orchestrated by Berlioz
during one of his
more imbalanced sets
but now I see that all
your fascination was sprayed on
by the tanning studios of
my own imagination
& maybe Hector’s
there will now be
a short ballet
accompanied by a lot of
accidentally amplified clattering
& antique dust
from ancient men
cavorting in the footlights
sit down lads
it’s true I stood upon
your burning decks
in a Nelson hat
& cricket pads for far too long
but now it’s time to start again
o historically retarded
Anglophone administrations
now the panto’s over
& Easter eggs & fireworks
are in the local shops
I’m sat in this pub garden
at half 3 in the morning
listening to a blackbird
even more fucked up than me
struggling to remember
who’s a firestarter
The government’s response to the latest set of emergencies has a lot to answer for. It is however reassuring to note that Eton & its stakeholders have been largely insulated. Also personal disillusionment after a relationship is sometimes a necessary phase, important for recalibration & balance. But, like standing on one leg with your eyes closed, it should only go on for about forty-five seconds.
GLASFRYN, LLANGATTOCK, POWYS NP8 1PH
+44(0)1873 810456 | LYN@GLASFRYNPROJECT.ORG.UK