Take the broken things
from the side of the road
the rotted cedar setting
the tippling tables
the cathode ray tv
the rusted chair
the torn fabric
the fallen angels
the terracotta pots.
Take the broken things
from this derelict garden
the stumps of trees
the leaking pond
the crushed coral reef
the trembling crust
the pulsing core
the fractured pipe
the spent bromeliads.
Take the broken things
from inside your coat
the old fountain pen
the stitched in quote
the pieces of glass
the vow of love
the crumbled shell
the torn photograph
the strands of her hair.
Take the broken things
from the open tomb
the father.
the son
the desecrated host
the unwrapped shroud
the spilt wine
the children
the priests.
Take the broken things
from this punctured can
the first lines of a poem
the interrupted thought
the space between stanzas
the parts of speech
the vowels
the consonants.
This sentence.
Published – Cordite Poetry Review 33: Creative Commons Ed Alison Croggon. 2010
Drawing by Mary Leunig, kindly in response to the poem.
Tim Heffernan - Poems 