(from) Better Than Sleep: Claudia

Claudia (a transexual dancer I met in a night-club in Casablanca)

It is only in loneliness
that we write, write –
sheep bleating,
fleeing the unknown hole
blank page, open soul
dark at the edge of the stage

There is nothing you can do
for you, for me
I heard one punter say to her
but time in the slight red light of the bar till –

Welcome, I thought
Claudia
One day we shall be
mermaids, mermen –

The smilers of the right
their world a cage with bars of blinding light
peer nervously into the gloom
exchanging pleasantries

O Child of the Night
dancer, laugher
fighter

Prayer is not in the swimming pool
prayer is having no hold
is the fool plunging down fighting and drowning

Is better than sleep