The Manual
An erasure of George Meredith’s “Martin’s Puzzle”
Book, how well I understand
your gladness.
Suffer’d a fool.
Why heart?
Well, the human fist
can be designed with a savouring.
Why taste the books
of turns?
I never solve
crush’d complaining.
Thanks leave
wonderful body hymns.
Fingers only
ask.
Answer this: Should it select eyes
fixed on eye?
So, Book, what must injustice
again mark?
Engines permit tools.
Respect may perhaps bow
but I instead question.
Made together, the sky.
Stop discord properly.
A universe from heaps,
kneeling.
Source: Poetry (February 2020)