The lie that is her honesty,To cypher, yet to name the heart,And in each vein and arteryThe chill and hemlock of her art. To show her meaning in the dress,A plain and open secrecy,To wear herself, and in each placeA mouth that no kiss shall set free. The child, the virgin, the chaste bride,A page […]
The great Russian poet Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva committedsuicide by hanging at Elabuga on the 31st August, 1941. Hergrave is not known, but her work knows no place nor death. I How easy it is to say yes,The inevitable, proper, necessary yesThat the world asks of itselfAnd says over and over, yes,Yes, that is how things […]
Come an worship at the altarO thon skeelie screiver WalterTeller o hairt grippin talesSome write tadpoles, he wrote whales Marmion, Guy ManneringThe Antiquary, KenilworthWriter’s block wisnae his problemNiver had o wirds a dearth Antiques Roadshow filmed a programmeThere, at Abbotsford, Scott’s hameHere, the Lay of the Last MinstrelAdded tae Auld Wattie’s fame Big Screen moguls […]
Mine is a copper weathervane’s hen’s eye view:Vertigo. Looking down on Sir Walter’s pigeon stained head Thick wavy hair, so lush, did he wear a wig?Above greywedding cake tiers, right hand holds walking stick In case you don’t know who he isLeft hand grips documents, manuscripts Erected by Ritchie for the Gentlemen of the County, […]
A few treeless meadows awaited your text
amid the overtones of Rackwick where next
to scriptory herds, you sermonised to shoals
how poetry’s an archipelago of souls:
He wrought at one great work for years;The world passed by with lofty look;Sometimes his eyes were dashed with tears;Sometimes his lips with laughter shook. His wife and child went clothed in rags,And in a windy garret starved;He trod his measure on the flags,And high on heaven his music carved. Wistful he grew but never […]
Doncha see the future
brightening like a golden sunset?
Each time I called for him he was perfectly ready,equipment checked and in smooth order,pared to essentials. And I, cluttered with gadgets,would clatter behind as he led the way downstairs. In the boat, as befits a sedulous angler,he was taciturn, though between essential wordshe would give that courteous, gentle smilethat was his signature, before his […]
Box work
Certain women. And some young boys.
/ Women with some uncertainties
/ but something they knew about
/ that made them need to say something.
/ Two of…
Except for Iain, who looks both found & lost, / already haunted by his own baffled ghost…
A lifetime of work to own a house / then you end up diminished by it.
