On Fire
9 poems by
Michael Cope
 

Poetry

Rain
GHAAP
Scenes & Visions
Some Examples of
       Silence
for the time being
Crossing the Desert
back view
Other Poems
Song Lyrics
A Virtual Anthology
YouTube Poems
Cautionary Verses
On Fire



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Two sentences came in

Two sentences came into my house;

one was short and brusque, the other

more wordy. They came in uninvited,

pushing past as I stood by the door.

Once inside they seemed quite businesslike:

their presence occupied the rooms,

the short one taking books from the shelf,

the other opening the filing-cabinet

pulling out files and spilling papers

on the passage floor. The longer one

had a clever argument, tying my words

in knots before I could form them,

so that finally I remained silent as the

other, the clipped one, tore pages

loose from the books, crumpled them,

and with hasty efficiency piled them

in the fireplace and plied them with

flame from matches in a rattling box.

Being themselves speech, neither spoke,

either to me or to each other, and I,

finding myself speechless, joined

their silence. Soon the three of us

left together, and I am unable

to say whether I was under coercion.