2 landscape (from exhibition)
oil on canvas
a ploughed field an old man’s hands
rutted and veined tendons and tendrils
the turned earth turning the wind pulling at the rain
browns against greys thick in the air a
figure canted over
stick-like bent bending into against a sky under the weight of the horizon
striated cloud a promised sun lost the touch strokes of rinsed etiolated ochre
nicotine-stained
fingers a claw holding on the nails
digging in
4 for want of a needle and thread (from qualia)
in his pockets
a map
a train ticket
a packet of seeds
some keys
money
a handwritten note
his hands the fists clenched
gripping the holes
through which life had bled out
drenched the soil
1 caul (from qualia)
does it still itch
this skin you were born in
sealed
vacuum-packed
kept in a drawer by the bed
the cap that does not fit yet
you will swim and you
will drown
a hapless Lucky lumbered with baggage
Lucky chained to the end of the
never-ending chain
running
a skinny-dipper out on the town
out on a limb in limbo dancing on the
ropes
bending over backwards down
on your knees to accept this …
this gift … this crown still
scratching
the head pushing through an egg still hatching
