Two Poems
(Coleridge Bulletin, New Series 19, Spring 2002, pp.71-76)
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from Autumnal Jour
(first published by Maquette Press 1998)
THE VALUE OF SILENCE
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The Bible
in Tablets of Stone.
Prior to 1611 the text
was relatively fluid,
and it was possible
to take liberties with the text.
Tablets of Stone,
leaves of paper
The Ten Commandments
carved in 1927
above Buckland-in-the-Moor.
Andrew Lanyon says
there should be One Poem –
written on concrete.
Tablets of stone.
September October November
septem octo novem decem
seven eight nine ten
sept: ninth month oct: tenth
nov: eleventh
sssslippage of season
Julius Augustus
fffflippant sssslippage
silage on November1st
the mown grass vermillion
Leaffall applefall appleturnover
Apple fall Logic
Newton sat under an apple tree
in Autumn Illogic
some bugger was chucking apples
up in the air
Radio question:
In which season was this song set?
All the brown leaves of...?
A droughting summer
Logic cutting printing collating pasting…
1895. Promenade concerts founded by Sir Henry
Wood.
Woodburn leaffall
Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being…
H.G. WELLS: the time machine
Tackatackatackatackthe time machine
The time machine the time machine
Machinemachinemachine
1896. A. E. Houseman: A Shropshire Lad
(a bit of a lad)
Thomas Hardy: Jude the Obscure
October 3rd. William Morris, artist, designer
and craftsman, dies.
November 16th. Sir Oswald Mosley,
leader of the Fascist Movement in Britain, is born.
tackatackatackatack attack attack
Red poppy
Red pointillism of holly
rose, cotoneaster
TREE OF LIFE MOTIF
Black stipple of ivy, sloe,
nub of sycamore
a kind of fig tree
deciduous
covering the dark eye
THE AMERICAN TREE
clinging goosegrass and burdock
sheep nibbling stubble
pheasant chicks zombieing
flock to nourish a vertical flap
from the silly beaters
pot-shot shot for the pot
posh shop shop for the posh
easy as pie, food fit for a princess
The Princess's power is equal
to a third of a million kettles
the lion on the syrup has shrunk
to the size of a pea
Pull up pea haulms
Rake leaves
The leaves crackle
Branches flame ochre and umber
Green flames, a blackened shroud.
All these are flames.
All these are leaves
The leaves crackle
Oa-k and ash
Oak is ash. Dust to…
Ashes smoke.
The first frost
The vale stretched out in muslin
The field smokes
The leaves crackle
Now is the time
we must check flowers
on your grave for bombs.
Proud man now seems
the enemy of all
I am older than the State of Israel
I hear the young poet
we met in the summer
is dead
after THE ELEMENTS
nothing
6th Sophie born 12.00 pm
The field smokes
The field steams
The fields steam
The fields' steam
The field steams
The field smokes
Seasons are missed
Mist of seasons
Mist
Seasons of.
SARA
illegible to other eyes
a muted story
distinctly minor
so much left
unrecorded
part of the heard melodies
of Great Men
shadow of a brilliant father
putting in order
his literary house;
keeping her husband's house
(in order)
silent heroine whose muffled story
haunts
marginalised by sex
(exemplifies her meaning
in the little tale
included in parenthesis)
unfinished Masterpiece
miscellaneous
remains
slipped
from the formalist
heirachy of Art
the interesting fragment ends.
dots intervene
in inability to make (to do)
what might have been
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