Michael Sharkey Poems

How do we know Eve and Adam were happy,
deprived, as they were, of a childhood?

Eve never knew, unlike Adam, a world
that was free of the chatter of others.'
...

In the real world
lovers part at morning with a kiss
and look back longingly
before they pass from sight.
...

Postcards from museums make it seem that you exist,
but never here.

I thought I saw you going undercover
years ago: the scent of lucerne, freshly mowed
hung in the orchard where I walked to pilfer limes.
...

A man began to eat his order of fish, and the ghost of the fish arose and spoke. Forgive me, it said, please hear me. I died in despair,
...

In each photograph I see
what captured me
when I first looked at you
and saw
...

Look, he said,
I've been writing stuff for the past four years
& I've done about six hundred poems
& all I can manage is get them in the local
...

The beautiful girl on the bus
wears a jacket that comes from a sheep
that was raised on a farm
...

When it came through the door
I knew what it was.

'I'll have that,' it said,
...

When I was twelve the undertaker came up
from the corner: 'Something special, come and see.'

The corpse was Italian,
...

You too can have flaking skin,
lank hair and
trembling hands and
glassy eyes
...