Good Girl

Peacock, Molly (1947 - 0)

Original Text

Molly Peacock, Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems 1975-2002 (New York: W. W. Norton, 2002): 160.

1Hold up the universe, good girl. Hold up

2the tent that is the sky of your world at which

3you are the narrow center pole, good girl. Rup-

4ture is the enemy. Keep all whole. The itch

5to be yourself, plump and bending, below a sky

6unending, held up by God forever

7is denied by you as Central Control. Sever

8yourself, poor false Atlas, poor "Atlesse," lie

9recumbent below the sky. Nothing falls down,

10except you, luscious and limited on the ground.

11Holding everything up, always on your own,

12creates a loneliness so profound

13you are nothing but a column, good girl,

14a temple ruin against a sky held up

15by forces beyond you. Let yourself curl

16up: a fleshy foetal figure cupped

17about its own vibrant soul. You are

18the universe about its pole. God's not far.

Notes

8] Atlas: "one of the older family of gods, who was supposed to hold up the pillars of the universe, and also of the mountain in Libya that was regarded as supporting the heavens" (OED). "Atlesse": supposed feminine and diminutive form of "Atlas." Back to Line

Publication Notes

Take Heart (1989)

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2004

Rhyme

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