No Disposals

Murray Edmond

The Borgesian Instance

The American writing the novel
in the café in Prague imagines
she is an American writing a novel
in a café in Paris

her Catherine leans forward across
the table as her hair falls lightly
across her brow and she flicks it
away while the pulse at her throat

beats and Paul notices it
and leans across to Catherine
to say someone ought to have told
you a woman is dead

It’s a novel about leaning across and
falling across
the mirrored walls of this café
in Barcelona mete out repetitions

and her Catherine longs for meetings
which can be arranged at a price –
she gets an actor to play
her character back to her

the actor leaves a plot outline
from her unconscious scrawled
in lipstick on the serviette
Catherine leans across to pick it up