2330
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18.v.26
try
this at home
ekphrastic
for Sydney Long’s 1898 ‘Pan’
even the trees are here for a frolic
join hands and who knows?
outdoors in as you’ll imagine
nor any sign of toil
scratch head
eye pipe
be all ears
shaggy in the leg
show secondary features
it’s the kind of tune sticks in your head
see it on a wall
note
beard is a pointed thing
2329
7.136
17.v.26
no
one’s death last long
ekphrastic
for Briton Rivière’s 1888 ‘Requiescat’
lie very still
leaves fall
it’s after life the armour shines
who’s a good boy?
where’s a next treat?
eyes bright
to point wet nose
the paint’s still cracking now
2328
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16.v.26
dearly
beloved
self-ekphrastic
for an untitled work in MY FIRST FOREST OF WORDS
these are journey words rehearsed
for deeper woods to come
just one page
of the walk-in book
follow a smudge
just a scratch
something tears
into – is it a line? a shape?
is it a lie to tell?
brings to the place words become unbecome
somewhere the rain, so a hat
someone has to be alien landing
we’ve run out of excuse
a dayfold nothing settles
a nesting thing
funnel up
see where this all was thrown
you can count the dimensions
the dark is a door
these are voices of elsewhere
here’s depth to the page we fall in
to picture is to deface the real
will it sing?
that’s to pour forth, prank it
count and lose count
an arrow shapes the fire
can I have pictured all this nothing?
may I? is it?
thing facing
happen to
on the wall lain flat
anticipated in the
much call moment
it’s aphoristic
that’s a crouch to pounce
butterslip, join the dots
I am drawn to a work to finish
take my pencil to it
because I was asked if I did
call it ‘Addled Scone Stroll’
call it ‘untitled’
go back and add a bit more
in the picnic woods
come
whichever way should take
and welcome
this is my country
you’re very welcome here
2327
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15.v.26
day
as grey as
ekphrastic
for Margaret Breindel’s 1962 ‘The Chorus’
square slots
all hearts held in
sometimes arms fall by the side
death is a cloak and holding
there’s no ground to stand on
there’s nothing for the air
more eyes than wide
with what-for-horror
grime
you could not call survivors
there’s all of this singing for fear
2326
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14.v.26
the
animal
stays near the warm
where there is what can be eaten
that could be any
to the touch and so care
up to tricks
slink and cower growl
to pounce
made in the shade
and lick this
as one must
to get by
in for instance
light of day
case by case
mind of its own
knowing or not
the animal’s away
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