The Clock
When the oak leaf drops on a gilded cyclops
the cyclops yawns accidentally swallowing an owl
the owl had a memory of a churched woman
who gave birth to a chariot of stars
the stars hibernated in Cronos’ pocket
which contained atoms of locust and dormouse
a dormouse knows how to sleep on rising dough
to avoid falling on its face
the face of death was stuck in the hourglass
the hourglass dust covers the butterflies’ wings
in the sun the wings measure my heartbeat
which goes now nownow now nownowhere
nowhere on this planet can you find a smelling clock.
the smelling clock paused by a long-fingered lemur
the lemur divided crocodiles into hours, minutes and seconds
every second I step out of the dreamtime into the decay and delay of rooster calls
the rooster cries exhausted by the tyranny of passing moments
momentarily insects will feast on the grandfather
whose paradox wakes me up at four in the morning
the morning folds in on itself beating its Olympic record.
Agata Maslowska was born in Poland and lives in Scotland. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Edinburgh Review, New Writing Scotland, -algia, Amberflora, Blackbox Manifold, Gutter Magazine, among others, and been anthologized in A Thousand Cranes: Scottish Writers for Japan (Cargo) and Glasgow (Dostoyevsky Wannabe). She is the recipient of the Hawthornden Writing Fellowship and the Gillian Purvis Award for New Writing. https://agatamaslowska.co.uk/ Twitter: @AgataMaslowska. Instagram: @_agata_maslowska_
Sam Healy is an Edinburgh-based musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the band North Atlantic Oscillation. He has also released solo albums under Sand. He is a member of Ray Interactive, an art and design studio specialising in interactive technologies, creative coding, and generative graphics. https://samhealy.portfoliobox.net/ Instagram: @samhealy_art
