Support 100 years of independent journalism.

  1. Culture
  2. Poetry
8 June 2022

The NS Poem: Transfiguration

A new poem by Rebecca Tamás.

By Rebecca Tamás

I stopped being interested
in the human a long time ago.
Only the patterns still entertain me,
long lines of red and white lights
pouring down Brooklyn bridge,
or the little grey paint marks
of hundreds of feet moving across the lino.

The great violence is not something
I can choose to abscond from,
though when I was a child,
I wished that I could become a crow,
so as to not share a species with the
purveyors of terrible crimes.

Now I know that wish is not possible,
that however troubling, deep down each thing
wants to perpetuate the thing it is,
to go on, crow-like, tiger-like, woman-like.

I know I could never trick myself into black wings,
the sky a big wound that I tear into, making
myself bloody.

I do watch them though, their pencil lines in the air,
their soft, ungraspable intelligence,
so as to humble myself.

I put down my coffee, and stand closer to the window,
considering what my being
might place as an offering on the stone altar of the world.


Rebecca Tamás’s books include the poetry collection “Witch” (Penned in the Margins) and “Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman” (Makina Books). She is a senior lecturer in creative writing at York St John University

Content from our partners
A better future starts at home
How to create an inclusive workplace and embrace neurodiversity
Universal Credit falls short of covering the bare essentials. That needs to change

Read more poetry published in the New Statesman here

Select and enter your email address Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. A weekly newsletter helping you fit together the pieces of the global economic slowdown. The New Statesman’s global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. Your guide to the best writing across politics, ideas, books and culture - both in the New Statesman and from elsewhere - sent each Saturday. A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

This article appears in the 08 Jun 2022 issue of the New Statesman, Marked Man