Every Creeping Thing
by Jacob Polley
By leech, by water mite
by the snail on its slick of light
by the mercury wires
of the spiders’ lyres
and the great sound-hole of the night
by the snail on its slick of light
by the mercury wires
of the spiders’ lyres
and the great sound-hole of the night
By the wet socket of a levered stone
by a dog-licked ice cream cone
by spores, mildew
by the green atchoo
by the yellow split pea and the bacon bone
by a dog-licked ice cream cone
by spores, mildew
by the green atchoo
by the yellow split pea and the bacon bone
All the doors must have their way
and every break of day its day
instead of a soul
Jackself has a coal
and the High Fireman to pay
and every break of day its day
instead of a soul
Jackself has a coal
and the High Fireman to pay
By head-lice powder, Paraquat
snapdragon’s snap and rat-tat-tat
who’s at the door
of the door of the door
it’s Jackself in his toadskin hat
snapdragon’s snap and rat-tat-tat
who’s at the door
of the door of the door
it’s Jackself in his toadskin hat
The poem is from Jackself (Picador), a book built from old spells and children's rhymes, with which Jacob Polley won the 2016 TS Eliot prize - "the world's most prestigious poetry prize".
Jacob Polley was born in Carlisle, Cumbria, in 1975 and has published four poetry collections. A 2015 interview (with invisible, silent interviewer!) is on youtube; printed interviews are here (2005) and here (2013).
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