Familiarity

  make the music stop   the tune is unfamiliar 
  &   why have those Schumann etudes deserted me 
  &   given the choice   i would always prefer the 
  accustomed knife-thrusts of Bernard Hermann 
  to some anodyne soundtrack   & the climax of 
  Vertigo   always reassuringly distressing 
  watching Kim Novak die   again   as she falls 
  from the bell tower   & there’s the happiness 
  of recognition   when you meander through rooms 
  of paintings   rediscover The Peaceable Kingdom
  naïve piles of quiescent animals   staring ahead 
  at the viewer   & the sense of déjà vu 
  that i might have lived in that desolate grey 
  Edward Hopper house on that uncanny quiet 
  street 
  
            to wander about in times 
                      that do not belong to us 
  
  & finally   to return to the predictable 
  assuagement of home   what a revelation 
  to surprise a recognised intruder   who’s 
  usurping your bedroom   just your own 
  reflection in the cheval mirror 
  
                      for what is life 
                                    for me 
                                          without thee