Unfolded letters

Kelvingrove II

Left upturned by the river,
When it was high: a broken
Imperial Venus.

Its swollen pearl spot,
Heavy for theatre,
Is scarred with spray.
Falling inside itself, from
The terracotta down.

Fermenting an autumn palette
In its undone shell. On older,
Brighter days, the leaves would have been swept.
February 2005