Mr Knowles and Maria Lanyard

Mr Knowles and Maria Lanyard

1.

Mr Knowles, Head of Policy and Division,

Can’t understand, why people refuse

To follow the format, in a document, to the end.

He watches Maria Lanyard leave the room.

He wishes every employee saw the real.

He doesn’t see Maria Lanyard, just the flesh.

Maria, if you looked carefully,

As she approaches the lift, is more than

One Maria, prismatic Marias ghost the room.

Eating her toasted sandwich in the park,

She wonders whether tired seagulls

Sleep on the wing, or cradle, nearby waves.

Maria is aware her name, Lanyard,

French for noose, a nautical origin,

Sailors used to tie knives and whistles

Round the neck. Maria can’t control

Her mind, the way a document suggests,

She sees more meaning in a typo; resists.

2.

From her bench among the seagulls, Maria

Sees a young man dressed in jeans;

He waits at the traffic lights to cross.

He stares at something below his feet,

As if, below despondency, you spy

The most coloured pebble in the stream.

In fact, a poet, outside, conducting

Experiments. He stared at the grill below him,

And looking up, at the bright awning, opposite,

Saw the grill, just ghosting for a second,

Proof of the most immediate past, proof

Meanings linger, long enough, if you’re quick.

Maria wished she spoke to strangers,

As strangers spoke to her, in dreams.

The young fellow was testing something,

She could tell. Mr Knowles knew all

She was allowed to know, or so it seemed.

She sailed, however, beyond the office reach.

3.

Proof of the most immediate past,

Image backing out of reality,

Heading where? The poet conducted trials.

Preliminary findings suggest,

Only vivid words rejuvenate the spirit,

Trace the trace, into the imaginary.

Always at risk of passing into oblivion,

The poet and the word, yet something in the word

Endures, ambiguously, oblivious cycles.

Endless urban moments, crying out for words,

Before they fade, in prismatic suits,

And multiple linen pants realities.

Mr Knowles divides the world

Into those that get it, and those

Who just monkey with the truth.

Long before Maria could identify

The albatross around her neck, she knew

The authority of authorities was just a guess.