Acts of Contrition

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This poem by Michael Donaghy originally appeared in the June/July 1994 edition of The London Magazine, alongside artwork by Roger Hilton.

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There’s you, behind the red curtain,
waiting to absolve me in the dark.
Here’s me, third in the queue outside
the same deep green velvet curtain.
I’m working on my confessional tone:

Here’s me opening my wrists
before breakfast, Christmas day,
and here’s you asking if it hurt.
Here’s where I choose between mea culpa
and Why the hell should I tell you?

Me again, in the incident room this time,
spitting my bloody teeth into your palm.
I could be anyone you want me to be.
I might come round to your point of view.

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Michael Donaghy was a poet and musician, whose collection Conjure won the Forward Prize in 2000.

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