MARC CARVER - POEMS

​Marc Carver writes because he has nothing else to do.

​GORMLEY

​As I drive up the road 
I see a man on a flat roof 
he is like one of those Gormley statures. 
He is perfectly still 
as he looks out into the distance he does not move at all 
could almost be dead 
it is like he is looking at this land for the first time 
like 
it never existed before he got up on that roof 
and now he doesn't want to come down 
so 
he is turned to stone 
When I drive past later 
I will see if he is still there looking for something that he will never find.

THE ARCHITECT

​There is no feeling 
like the feeling you get when you wake up at four in the morning 
and know you are the only one alive 
the deadness 
the stillness 
you could almost be dead yourself and not know it.
You start to think with a clarity that has alluded you your whole life 
no doubts 
nothing to hold you back 
and suddenly you want to build 
brick after brick those words that speak out from the darkness 
tell stories that no one will ever hear 
but they shout out of the silence like alarm bells warn the sailors of the rocks that lurk underneath. 
So you piece them together 
and you know you are making something you don't know or need to know what it is you only find out when you finish 
then you can stand back and see what it is 
as if you knew before you started 
then you look and know and see what it is 
and for once you know what it is

UNTITLED

​I think about whether I should put this out into the world
just one more just one more.
Even if I only send it to one person 
just one more just one more.
So people can see that I am an artist, I can create still
just one more just one more
but I have given up on the world 
just one more just one more.
The stillness that gives me this bed is the only thing I want
Just one more just one more
So if I hit send or not the chances are the world will not see it
but no one will lose much sleep for me 
so for the last time the very last time one more time