#1133 - earthtone

1133

7.ii.23

4.38

earthtone

ekphrastic for Margaret Preston’s 1942 ‘Grey Day in the Ranges’

 

what calls us from the war to be among mountains?

 

hard lines

 

trees leant to the track gone on

 

like mountains have been cloud once

like clouds make mountain now

 

there’s some show of geology

scree slip

 

a kind of soldier colour, grim

 

all this very old

like shoe worn to the bone

 

as in a linocut

 

you’ll see a very sharp knife was used for this land

 

else, how would we be here?

 

ridge divided where a valley falls

saddles once ridden

now all afoot

 

and after there’ll be having slog

not canvas but this hardboard home

 

trees cling to themselves to be here