Specimen
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Specimen Author(s): Michael West Source: Irish University Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Autumn - Winter, 1998), p. 259 Published by: Edinburgh University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25484788 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 22:17 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Edinburgh University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish University Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.44.77.40 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:17:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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Transcript of Specimen
SpecimenAuthor(s): Michael WestSource: Irish University Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Autumn - Winter, 1998), p. 259Published by: Edinburgh University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25484788 .
Accessed: 16/06/2014 22:17
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Edinburgh University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to IrishUniversity Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 185.44.77.40 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:17:20 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
NEW POETRY
Michael West
The Wave
Not seeing the wall of water
like dirty glass in an aquarium with mackerel flying through
suspended for a flash in a fast-moving glacier
Crash down on you like the walls of Jericho
Rolling you like a hermit crab
in your own body
There is neither dryness or wetness
in the play of forces
Your shoulder wrenched out of joint trawled in a whirlpool
keelhauled over gravel sand in your mouth
your togs round your knees
That moment when the sun and all was turned to darkness
Rising, lop-sided, staggering out of six inches of water
full of the power of wild horses
draped in seaweed, the creature from the lagoon
The pain in your arm, the grazes, the bruises
the salt, the sand, the sense of blood churning, the bile, the blur, the hardness of breathing
The ringing in your ears like a sea-shell all around you
Specimen
Red dust once grew on our car
Overnight, like penicillin. It blew in
From the Sahara
Through the noses of the Pharaohs.
Our father took it off with a soft brush.
259
This content downloaded from 185.44.77.40 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:17:20 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
