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Authors: Paul Muldoon
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three interlocking red triangles on my beer mat.
The way to preserve a hide is not by working into it Irish moss or casein
but the very brains
of the very beast that was erstwhile so comfortable in its skin.
Irish monasticism may well derive from Egypt.
We donât discount the doings of the Desert Fox
any more than Lily Langtryâs shenanigans with Prince
Louis of Battenberg. The 1920s vogue for sequins
began with Tutankhamen. Five wise virgins
are no more likely than five foolish
to trim a fish-oil lamp to illumine
the process of Benedictine nuns spinning and weaving yarns.
I donât suppose weâll ever get to grips with the bane
of so many scholarsâthe word SINIMIAINIAIS
inscribed on a Viking sword. As for actually learning to grieve,
it seems to be a nonstarter. The floor of Cuthbertâs cell is flush
with the floor of Ballynahone Bog after the first autumn rains,
the gantries, the Woodbines, the drop scones,
the overflowing basinâs chipped
enamel, the earthâs old ointment box, the collop of lox,
the drumroll of wrens
at which we still tend to look askance.
This style of nasal helmet was developed by the Phrygians
while they were stationed at Castledawson.
The barrow at Belas Knap was built before the pyramids.
Same thing with Newgrange.
The original seven-branched menorahâs based on a design
by Moses himself. When it comes to the crunch
we can always fall back on potassium bromide
as an anticonvulsant. A chamomile tisane
in a tearoom near the Bigrigg iron mine.
Since the best swords are still made from imported steel,
the more literal among us canât abide
the thought an island may be tidal.
This is the same Cuthbert whose chalice cloth
will be carried into battle on the point
of a spear. I can just about visualize a banner
of half-digested fish fluttering through the air
from the otter spraint
piled high at the threshold of Cuthbertâs dry stone holt.
A sea trout is, after all, merely a brown trout
with wanderlust. It wears a tonsure from ear to ear
like any Irish aspirant.
Weâll still use the term âsmoltâ
of a salmon that first leaves fresh water for salt. Vikings will fletch
their arrows with goose long into the era of Suleiman
the Magnificent. A tithe barn
often cedes another tenth of its grain.
We wonât have been the first to examine
our consciences at Bishopâs Cleeve.
Benedictine monks will extend their tradition of persiflage
far beyond the confines
of Northumbria. Long after the Synod
of Whitby has determined the penis bone of an otter may double
as a tiepin. A graveâs best filled with Lough Neagh sand.
We use a guideline when we dibble
cauliflower plants so things wonât go awry.
A calcium carbide âgunâ still does duty as a pigeon-scarer
in the parish of Banagher, a parish where a stag
has been known to carry in its antlers
a missal, a missal from which a saint might pronounce.
Letâs not confuse candelabras with chandeliers.
Iâd as lief an ounce
of prevention as a pound of cure,
particularly when it comes to the demise
of a great skald. Coffin is to truckle
as salmon is to catafalque.
Could it be that both the trousers and the coat of mail
were invented by the Celts?
Itâs no time since Antrim and Argyll
were under Ãedán mac Gabráinâs rule.
We come together again in the hope of staving off
our pangs of grief. An altar cloth carried into battle
by the 82nd Airborne. A carton
of Lucky Strikes clutched by a G.I. on the bridge
at Toome. I want to step in to play my part
while the sky above the hermitage
does a flip chart.
Gray, blue, gray, blue, gray. However spartan
his beehive hut, Cuthbert has developed a niche
market in fur, honey, amber,
and the sweet wine weâll come to know as Rhenish.
Sometimes it takes only a nudge
to start a longship down a trench.
In 832, by most tallies, the Vikings did a number
on Armagh
The way to preserve a hide is not by working into it Irish moss or casein
but the very brains
of the very beast that was erstwhile so comfortable in its skin.
Irish monasticism may well derive from Egypt.
We donât discount the doings of the Desert Fox
any more than Lily Langtryâs shenanigans with Prince
Louis of Battenberg. The 1920s vogue for sequins
began with Tutankhamen. Five wise virgins
are no more likely than five foolish
to trim a fish-oil lamp to illumine
the process of Benedictine nuns spinning and weaving yarns.
I donât suppose weâll ever get to grips with the bane
of so many scholarsâthe word SINIMIAINIAIS
inscribed on a Viking sword. As for actually learning to grieve,
it seems to be a nonstarter. The floor of Cuthbertâs cell is flush
with the floor of Ballynahone Bog after the first autumn rains,
the gantries, the Woodbines, the drop scones,
the overflowing basinâs chipped
enamel, the earthâs old ointment box, the collop of lox,
the drumroll of wrens
at which we still tend to look askance.
This style of nasal helmet was developed by the Phrygians
while they were stationed at Castledawson.
The barrow at Belas Knap was built before the pyramids.
Same thing with Newgrange.
The original seven-branched menorahâs based on a design
by Moses himself. When it comes to the crunch
we can always fall back on potassium bromide
as an anticonvulsant. A chamomile tisane
in a tearoom near the Bigrigg iron mine.
Since the best swords are still made from imported steel,
the more literal among us canât abide
the thought an island may be tidal.
This is the same Cuthbert whose chalice cloth
will be carried into battle on the point
of a spear. I can just about visualize a banner
of half-digested fish fluttering through the air
from the otter spraint
piled high at the threshold of Cuthbertâs dry stone holt.
A sea trout is, after all, merely a brown trout
with wanderlust. It wears a tonsure from ear to ear
like any Irish aspirant.
Weâll still use the term âsmoltâ
of a salmon that first leaves fresh water for salt. Vikings will fletch
their arrows with goose long into the era of Suleiman
the Magnificent. A tithe barn
often cedes another tenth of its grain.
We wonât have been the first to examine
our consciences at Bishopâs Cleeve.
Benedictine monks will extend their tradition of persiflage
far beyond the confines
of Northumbria. Long after the Synod
of Whitby has determined the penis bone of an otter may double
as a tiepin. A graveâs best filled with Lough Neagh sand.
We use a guideline when we dibble
cauliflower plants so things wonât go awry.
A calcium carbide âgunâ still does duty as a pigeon-scarer
in the parish of Banagher, a parish where a stag
has been known to carry in its antlers
a missal, a missal from which a saint might pronounce.
Letâs not confuse candelabras with chandeliers.
Iâd as lief an ounce
of prevention as a pound of cure,
particularly when it comes to the demise
of a great skald. Coffin is to truckle
as salmon is to catafalque.
Could it be that both the trousers and the coat of mail
were invented by the Celts?
Itâs no time since Antrim and Argyll
were under Ãedán mac Gabráinâs rule.
We come together again in the hope of staving off
our pangs of grief. An altar cloth carried into battle
by the 82nd Airborne. A carton
of Lucky Strikes clutched by a G.I. on the bridge
at Toome. I want to step in to play my part
while the sky above the hermitage
does a flip chart.
Gray, blue, gray, blue, gray. However spartan
his beehive hut, Cuthbert has developed a niche
market in fur, honey, amber,
and the sweet wine weâll come to know as Rhenish.
Sometimes it takes only a nudge
to start a longship down a trench.
In 832, by most tallies, the Vikings did a number
on Armagh
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