*
rose and gold razzle
of first light
rocks, wells and trees
are the original Holy Trinity
*
the cows of Rosemodrez
grazing among the Merry Maidens*
*
Keyne is the moon,
Teath a protectress of corn,
Wennap a horse-fetish,
and Endellion
one of the many gods of the sea…**
*
laughingstock earth
and the wilds of light
a living horse
mated with a spirit horse
*
pinprick serpents
and anchors and hearts
and gods and goddesses
stippled inkily on to the bare skin
*
daylong breakfasts
mums and aunts at Leacroft
I’m kneeling under the table
with the pins and the crumbs
grampa shaving in the back kitchen
or smoking in his chair
blue hooves of the clouds clattering outside
everything bobs up again
in the infinite memory net
*
pay attention
to the forehead…
its folds and dimples
show us
that within is hidden
a distressed and troubled spirit***
*
the child digging for treasure
in the back garden
long before the swallows arrive in Lisbon
*
a ghost nation
penned inside day’s clear bottle
a mile castle
a watch tower
the eighteenth opal of winter,
we are so lost
*
a tapestry
showing thirteen snakes
twelve swords and the national anthem bird
a silver penny
bearing the head of Cynetheyth,
a Queen of the South English
a prayer book for women
a find-spot for a jewel
a bible so heavy it takes six men to carry it
(it has a red goatskin cover)
*
yea
even from
abomination to zits
*
as when sad thoughts
spring up overnight
like sorrel racing across a field
*
my direct experience
of the glacier
its light
moving from solidity
to a glassy transparency
*
star-shaped sand grains
the bloodstained sands of Okinawa beach
the beauteous sands of the Skeleton Coast
white sands of St Ninian’s Isle
*
heaven is jade
and ice
and the father
who knows
what heaven wants?
*
summer in the Year One
(childhood is a rapid planet)
*
Eros
riding on a swan,
he will appear
in different guises,
not always winged
*
subtle as a queen,
it is called Ayr
only seven or nine eagles
may subdue it
*
the humble bees working the hive
never and slowly
on the last night of Monday
footnotes:
* and **: quoted from The Living Stones, Ithell Colquhoun
*** from a curatorial note to the exhibition: Rembrandt by Himself, National Gallery 1999