Two Poems
Simon Armitage, 5 June 1997
“... The Ram Half-dead, hit by a car, the whole of its form a jiggle of nerves, like a fish on a lawn. To help finish it off, he asked me to stand on its throat, as a friend might ask a friend to hold, with a finger, the twist of a knot. Then he lifted its head, wheeled it about by the ammonite, handlebar shells of its horns The Swordfish After the weapon had drawn blood for the first time it happened to change ... ”