A Poem by Sophie Herxheimer

Eggs and Bacon.

A famous critic wrote about me in the paper. The piece began Herxheimer is a neuro-divergent artist working across sound, visual art and language. It carried on, saying: she is all the reasons to celebrate. I was very flattered, but I said: I’m no more neuro-divergent than these two eggs! And I held up two eggs, one of which was an egg, and the other was the head of a well known artist, possibly Francis Bacon.

Leonard Cohen died and bequeathed me his audience in his will. I was surprised at his thoughtfulness. I wrote an article called What’s the Difference between a Mensch and a Mention? In it I wondered how many times we have to be told we are clever before we believe it. The prophet Mohammed turned up with a young Arab boy who looked wide eyed and incredulous. 
“A Jew?” asked the boy, shaking, “we only heard of them in stories, we didn’t know that they really existed!” 
I laughed. “Well we all hear stories, don’t we? About ourselves, about each other – but in what other
way can we know that we ARE each other, full of the same burning need for love and lunch?” 
“No!” He said, and spat on the ground beside me. “We are not the same. Be careful not to underestimate
me, you’ll humiliate yourself.”
I was frightened. “Power?” I asked, “is that more important than love?”
Suddenly the sky was full of giant, floating poached eggs, and he and I were forced to stop our conversation and look up. 
“Allah is merciful!” gasped the boy. 
“Be careful where you land”, I said to the eggs, “make sure there are populations ready to eat you.” The eggs thundered across the hills of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. “We are the Eyes of God,” said a voice. All the golden yolks seemed to blink at once from inside the uneven skirtage of their albumens. 

Sophie Herxheimer is an artist and poet. She’s held residencies for The Museum of Liverpool and Transport for London among others. Her work has been shown at her local allotments, Tate Modern, and on a giant mural along the sea-front at Margate. She made a 300-metre tablecloth for the Thames Festival, a life-size concrete poem in the shape of Mrs Beeton to stand next to her grave, and a pie on the lawn of an old people’s home big enough for seven drama students to jump out of, singing. Her collection Velkom to Inklandt (Short Books, 2017) was a Poetry Book of the Month in The Observer and a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her book 60 Lovers to Make and Do (Henningham Family Press, 2019) was a TLS Book of the Year. She has an ongoing project where she collects and draws stories live with members of the public. Her new collection is INDEX (zimZalla, 2021), 78 collage poems published in a box as a pack of prophetic cards.