#2386 -- over the deserts, over the sea

 

2386

7.193

13.vii.26

over the deserts, over the sea

to Istanbul

 

yesterday was Cammeraygal Country

crouching in a cave to be out of the rain

a long list of things to turn off, to shut

 

now it’s desert and sea, islands like clouds

so many shades of sand –

grey browns, gypsum blinding

the orange, the violet

 

roads nowhere to nowhere down there

 

mountains just like we have on Mars

 

no sign of shade

no sign of movement

 

from up here you get a picture of time

 

there’s a blue you could boil off, war aside

 

everything’s sand or turning to sand

 

a day goes on forever

forever goes all day

 

#2385 -- bear witness

 

 

2385

7.192

12.vii.26

bear witness

fatality at the Glenbrook Tunnel

ekphrastic for Arthur Streeton’s 1891 ‘fire’s on’

 

Hall of a Mountain

death’s at the place we carry it from

 

no king for these ants

 

whether on horseback or in argument

stone is an arbitrary instance

 

death’s at the place we carry it from

timber won’t ever hold up for long

 

death will always be there

 

sky within a tree’s reach

our smoke to point this blue

 

the eye goes up and up and up

 

is there shame or guilt or solace?

 

not one of these faces is shown 

#2384 -- an undetermined sky

 

2384

7.191

11.vii.26

an undetermined sky

ekphrastic for Jane Sutherland’s 1893 ‘after autumn rains’

 

rough limbs of nothing quite to shape

as if in gilt to crack with time

 

finally the place as altered

not much here to read

 

just as it is – grazed and the cattle gone

weed risen from the unseen dung

 

unpeopled for a present purpose

just another little forever

 

one doubts that it will last

 

#2383 -- slap up

 

2383

7.190

10.vii.26

slap up

ekphrastic for Tony Tuckson’s 1070-73 ‘White Lines (vertical) on ultramarine

 

a lazy kind of depth, just there

and more than at arm’s length

 

what else shows through?

 

one might make all kinds of claims

 

you see as far as

 

the action of gravity

some kind of splashdown

 

it mocks

we all mock back

 

this is some kind of forest for free

 

straight out of the tin

in which I imagine

hapless insect sinking

#2382 -- there isn't really a name for this

 

2382

7.189

9.vii.26

there isn’t really a name for this

ekphrastic for Ann Thomson’s 1983 ‘Pentaplain’

 

see a green field

moon gone under

drip fed rich once where the shovel

 

rain crosses it

 

all directions this

kept in a box for the mind to expand

 

there’s something built by accident

 

uninhabited calm

 

fuse lit

scaffold shape

the dark come round

 

road like a grief run through

 

a best analogy

 

the sky so patched to always fall

I think it almost means 

#2381 -- Banksy -- a spray and scurry off

 

2381

7.188

8.vii.26

Banksy

a spray and scurry off

 

what more risk than a question?

 

you’ll need a mask

 

one’s thrown under

 

so hold a pose in cloud floss

 

soft toys of Dismaland and grubby

the incoherent howl

 

a mountain is made of weapons

 

there’s nothing can’t be defaced

 

with gangsta rats no ball games

toss up

 

splash for the sea

 

keep the day anonymous

 

it’s over the wire

it’s over to you

to mount a rescue

 

raise a beaker to

 

here’s a halo of paint

 

anonymous transparent

 

it’s this much self belief

 

a cardboard town’s cut out of your head

 

applause for war is a sign

 

of extreme value

commodified for the joke

 

consumer Jesus gone shopping

 

there’s nothing that can’t be made sacred

 

a bomb clutch trolley hunt

where nakedness plays mouse

 

the worst just keeps coming

 

gesture is art

 

all of this collectible

the middle finger too

 

just a few drops of lighter fluid

now all the world is lit

 

we are the monkeys in charge

#2380 -- catching breath

 

2380

7.187

7.vii.26

catching breath

Gore Cove Track Series

 

takes such a net

 

it’s in your chest, beat beside

 

a traipse

 

and here’s a tide like day rust

sun say

 

sneak up with a voice behind

 

take steps

so’s to be gone