​Shadow of a Girl Playing with a Hoolahoop, by Patrick Wright

Mystery and Melancholy of a Street, by Giorgio de Chirico (Italy). 1914.

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​Shadow of a Girl Playing with a Hoolahoop ​

It used to  scare me, what this girl is doing,
or those around her, off in  the  blind field.
Seemingly a girl playing with a hoolahoop,
or just a shadow, no source, just a shadow
next to a wagon, its backdrop here a dusty
plaza. Somewhere, I  feel, from an upstairs
room, an eye looks at me. Somewhere, off
screen, a murder is taking place, this shade
a clue. Even so, things are too belated now,
this girl  clearly a phantom and not a muse,
like she’s in a toy shop  or inside its  puzzle,
no girl  playing so  nonchalant with a hoop.
The sun,  at these times, is no longer a  sun,
more likely a lamp. My fingers are syllables.
And this  pine table where the postcard sits
has all  sorts of knots  and faces of  its  own.

Patrick Wright
​
Patrick Wright has a poetry pamphlet, Nullaby, and forthcoming collection published by Eyewear. His poems have appeared in several magazines, including Agenda, Wasafiri, The Reader, London Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, Ink, Sweat and Tears,and Iota. His poem ‘The End’ was recently included in The Best New British and Irish Poets Anthology 2018, judged by Maggie Smith. He has also been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. He is studying towards a PhD on ekphrastic responses to dark or near-black paintings, and he works as a Lecturer at The Open University where he teaches Creative Writing.