So letting the bath run I sat
on the toilet & thought about
keeping the plug in till the water
spilt which made me think if
all things have as their cause what
happened how can you change
course, prior will spilling through
you or an unseen drain blocked
with gunk. In the case of cloves it
wasn’t that the smell drove the
Dutch to kill & pillage but that it
told them they were near & maybe
would do anything to get it, it
being what would spill through
them unabated. Last year, when
I tried to smell what the Dutch
smelt, the air was full of burning
cloves. The crematorium guard sat
near us smoking clove cigarettes,
smoke rising off him like a taxi
outside Schiphol airport in March.
‘Baker Street’ by Gerry Rafferty
was playing on the speakers & you
were still in mourning, moaning
inwardly, letting every sound spill
through & out of you like water.