by Paul Brady and Paul Muldoon.
Nothing is as it seems
Nothing sounds as it should
The one thing we both esteemed
Verisimilitude
The rain on our first walk
Peas in a wooden box
The rustle of quarter-inch inch tape
The grove where we made our escape
Later that night we’d meet
Under a thunder sheet
We moved in and out of a dream
Raising the likelihood that
Nothing is as it seems
Nothing sounds as it should
Nothing is as it seems
Nothing sounds as it should
Was your recurring theme
Though it always felt slightly skewed
The log fire and its flame
Were crackling cellophane
Two flapping leather gloves
Might yet conjure a turtle dove
The horse that galloped by
Was one coconut shy
Just as you would so often
Deem me the one who must make good
On my promise not to replay
Everything through a tape deck
So that not everything I say
Is said merely for effect
For effect
Nothing is as it seems
Nothing sounds as it should
The mote and the beam
The same order of magnitude
As you storming off
Down a gravel path
The prop door’s unconvincing slam
As if it didn’t give a damn
The rain that fell on barren soil
Now salt shaken out on foil
Such rain as would round out the stream
Until I understood that
Nothing is as it seems
Nothing sounds as it should
Copyright Round Hill Music/ Domino Music.