Mike Farren

---

Newcastle, May 1992

I am reading about twins when you walk in,
expected, but immediately part of a tableau

from myth – from an Old Master’s interpretation
of myth – where every part of the picture,

every colour, every fold of every garment,
every cheap ornament, every passer-by

are charged with meaning because they
are being looked at. I am in the picture

but I am looking at the picture, Dora
and Nora Chance are looking at the picture,

Angela Carter, though three months dead,
is looking at the picture, where I sit on a grey

sofa in the lobby of a chain hotel, in a black
denim jacket, reading about twins and look

up, and the one who will be my chosen
twin walks in, says hello and shifts the world.

---

Mike Farren is a poet, editor and publisher based in Shipley, West Yorks. He has 3 pamphlets, most recently Smithereens (4Word) and is one of the hosts of Rhubarb open mic.