EX CATHEDRA or a MOVING PICTURE
Is this a snapshot of a searchlight?
Of a family of chairs in flight
Seeking refuge, escaping the chase
By the unseen pursuers off-screen?
Or a moving picture of a moon
Illuminating a darkened sky
That could be a haven or dead-end?
Or is it a clip of hanging chairs
Before falling to a fatal fate?
Or a still of six arrested seats
Awaiting their uncertain future?
Their shadows the images of bats,
That presage freedom from fearfulness.
Is the door an entrance or an exit
Into a land of hope or despair?
Is a chair without a seat, a chair?
Would Magritte say: “Ce n\'est pas une chaise”.
In truth, they’re in a small Spanish church,
In brief suspended animation,
In stop-motion beneath an aisle roof.
Should they not be in a cathedral?
After all, is not a cathedral named
For the Chair which seats the archbishop?