![\"\"](\"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Geese.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Take Two<\/strong> A flock of geese migrating, startled With his sleek black head, white shirt She negates him: pale uncovered arms; They play the scene against its fractured backdrop, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michael Bartholomew-Biggs<\/strong> is poetry editor of the on line magazine London Grip and also helps to run the North London reading series Poetry in the Crypt.\u00a0 His most recent collection is Pictures from a Postponed Exhibition (Lapwing 2014), which features artwork by David Walsh.<\/p>\n Howard Fritz<\/strong> is a London-based artist: http:\/\/hwfritz.blogspot.co.uk<\/a>\/.\u00a0 See here for more of Michael Bartholomew-Biggs’ responses to Howard Fritz paintings: http:\/\/londongrip.co.uk\/2016\/01\/paintings-poems-howard-fritz-michael-bartholomew-biggs\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Take Two After Howard Fritz A flock of geese migrating, startled by a minor earthquake, interrupt a couple\u2019s tilted t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate. Her headscarf\u2019s pink and contrasts with the drink she clasps \u2013 a red Cinzano he\u2019s just bought her. With his sleek black head, white shirt and dark-sleeved dinner-suit he is his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry","category-word-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14488"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14492,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14488\/revisions\/14492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAfter Howard Fritz<\/em><\/p>\n
\nby a minor earthquake, interrupt a couple\u2019s
\ntilted t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate. Her headscarf\u2019s pink
\nand contrasts with the drink she clasps \u2013
\na red Cinzano he\u2019s just bought her.<\/p>\n
\nand dark-sleeved dinner-suit he is his own
\nunchanging manifesto \u2013 and resembles
\nall the geese which fly by swiftly
\nas old lies he\u2019s told or ghosts of former lovers.<\/p>\n
\nblack velvet breast that sports a brooch \u2013 a trophy
\nbutterfly. But who is pinned to whom?
\nThe geese are metaphors departing,
\ndollars taking wing, not spent on her.<\/p>\n
\nadvertising their own love affairs
\nas much as acting out their parts. They\u2019re stars.
\nThe geese are extras: feather-weight careers
\ncan cruise above the wreckage of this script.<\/p>\n