bone to stone drifting
catastrophic slow
lee to face-ward drifting
shadow to quotidian
suggesting life
only when settled
under branch of roof;
noticeable change
comes at the price
of sheild and pike:
death-mask disciplined
to the painted face
open to the very depth
of loss, later settled
to economies of
plea, barter and
proliferation of fact
artisaned superfluous
to being – faces fixed
in leer the rest of
born days, where
animals are skinned
under abnegated face,
where stone walls
turn green, staining
clothing and where the
emerald poise of head
and neck watches
the peck of open flay, all
“exterminated by
slow acting and still
existing causes …”
… time begins
to tick – well it had to
start somewhere – and
with time cometh writing
and with writing the
topography fades from
hill-wide face to
pock-mark street and settlement
all fitted ingeniously
with raised wall over arch,
high to unresolved descant
always left in minor;
the woman bends
to the laundry before
the rush of water
released from the mill:
power is only explicit
when blocked and
channelled, tree to
gable with date
and signature, silk
to valence with
drape of repose and spreading peacock dream;
so, is there choice
of governance: cut
through from neck to child;
you stay unnatural-still
your image will be caught,
you turn, and your
head will disappear,
you climb the wall
and stand still, you
stay in the mud yard
and stand still, … only
hats stay constant, cast-
iron flanges reach
from cast-circular
hinges, woven to corset,
slave to youth; the
memorial stone,
painfully-carved,
reflects the blue
of grey cloud, under
posts of wire
the death-etched
face stoops to kiss
the face of
wholly mud
291218 – spent the afternoon at the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery to tread time from immemorial to the First World War; the quote is from “Thinking Path” by Shirley Chubb (2004), an exhibition that explores the life and legacy of Charles Darwin, an artwork and series of installations inspired by Darwin’s daily ritual of walking the same path at Down House; “Shadow Stories”, an animated short film by Samantha Moore is not directly referenced but weaves about the whole perambulation; references include the Roman conquest, medieval, Civil War, and industrial exhibits, up to the Open Art Exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War
————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–
being & clouds & doing & identity & power wormhole: The Passage of the St. Gothard, 1804
blue & woman wormhole: SPRING AND ALL XI by William Carlos Williams
change & streets wormhole: to let be
death wormhole: What You Are by Roger McGough
dream wormhole: THURSDAY by William Carlos Williams
economics & society & walls & war wormhole: The Boats of Vallisneria by Michael J. Redford – Trees
faces wormhole: The Boats of Vallisneria by Michael J. Redford – With Cows
green & shadow & trees & writing wormhole: Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters] – pageant of the trees
grey & time wormhole: La Route de Louveciennes, 1870
Have wormhole: SPRING AND ALL VI by William Carlos Williams
life wormhole: ‘… and yet I think I am so modest: …’
music wormhole: JANUARY by William Carlos Williams
river wormhole: quiet river
roof wormhole: breakfast
stone wormhole: early // Minoan & Mycenaean Exhibitions in the British Museum – diptych
water wormhole: SPRING AND ALL I by William Carlos Williams
mlewisredford 