Where new writing finds its voice
Poem

the hermeneutics of likeness

Noel Rooney

for peter komaromy

beethoven plays film tango. an old year
’s night as a dream: the roses are still here
but the lights have fallen on the city,
the stars are reading some old manuscripts

and we are poring over lustral cinders;
tragedy tinsels our favourite medium
and time has become legible, a glyph
resembled in twisted members – placid

participles. don’t forget, pay the debt:
meaning doesn’t happen, but something does,
pesher after pesher, tense after tense;
history on its head is on its heels

cain’s mark is written; from here to the city
who will he meet who doesn’t know his face?