Martin Auster: ‘Arrival’, ‘Introspection’ and ‘Mr Spenser’

Arrival

Her arrival at a social gathering
was like a sudden shaft of sunlight,

winter sunlight, that is,
bringing no warmth

but doing enough to illuminate
the shallowness of the occasion,

and inducing in her acquaintances
a vague sensation of bleakness,

not easily thrown off,
even by drinking more wine

than is really advisable,
according to official guidelines.

Martin Auster

Introspection

Wanted: cartographers,
To fashion a chart, on which will appear
Soundings, and safe harbours,
Uncertain passages, and shameful truths;
Interior regions; moral blind spots
As yet imperfectly explored;
With lines of emotional latitude;
A compass rose; also, a scale;
Cherubs, blowing winds from the four corners;
A title, in a fine cartouche;
And a legend, to interpret the symbols.

Martin Auster

Mr Spenser

Like a duck splashing into a pond
But suddenly and humiliatingly
Failing to stay afloat,
Mr Spenser, the English teacher,

Was finding it surprisingly difficult
To think up vivid examples of similes.
His students looked bored,
Like fish drifting listlessly in the Sargasso Sea.

Like a cool-headed general
Realising that his position was untenable,
And deciding on a tactical withdrawal
To allow his forces to stabilise and regroup,

Mr Spenser retreated in good order
And, advancing on a new front,
With bugles blowing and banners flying,
Turned now to the topic of metaphor,

But finding himself charging into
An impenetrable fog of student apathy
He rather lost momentum,
And was saved by the bell.

Martin Auster