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Saturday 10 September 2011

Giving Space Its Due

Space calls the soul                          landscapes know how
create themselves                             in space they leave
around themselves                             and balance it
with space displaced

                         counterbalanced

the two are one                               mould and moulded
each is either                                each moulds other
neither supreme

looking at one                                do you see both
do you focus                                  tiny detail
or do eyes sweep                              like T.V. guns
refreshing screens

space is solid                                sweep and focus 
miss the solid

look deeply in                                as if into
a lover's eyes

the landscape is                              the more sublime
the more the two                               

                         are equalised

artists have tools                            to show this space
in paint or stone                             but where are words
for poets' use                                how can language
describe a space                              solidify
it in the mind                                and give it weight
to equal flint                                or sycamores

when landscape calls                          and shape is seen
to shape the call                             when heft is felt
how sculptural                                the rest becomes!



10 comments:

jabblog said...

I've read this several times and am beginning to understand it. Too much brain exercise for a Saturday morning;-)

The Unknowngnome said...

I read this and see this as an extension of your landart. Nice word painting. Well balanced.

Jim Murdoch said...

A nicely constructed piece and its layout forces one to take time over reading it what with those huge leaps from column to column (interesting that at this time of year you’d construct a poem of two ‘towers’ like this). I read it over several times. Most thought-provoking but, today at least, I have nothing to add.

David Cranmer said...

Dave, you must have a gun to your head the way you're cranking out these gems... Tell your assailant thank you. :)

Windsmoke. said...

I got an image of wide open spaces across a vast landscape :-).

Carl said...

Very cool. Sweep and focus I shall indeed.

ArtistUnplugged said...

Neat, mind tangler. I admire your way with the words!

Dave King said...

jabblog
Apologies, not the intention. It was something of a dry run for today.

The Unknowingnome
You are not wrong. I guess my central interest - certainly at the moment - is with landscape, though I don't have a special one in land art as suc, but I do think that it overlaps with much else. It all comes down to definitions.

Jim
I suspect that's great anticipation on your part! In fact I was writing these two poems together. I wrote them first with lines of four syllables, didn't feel it was quite right, so conflated them into lines of eight. That still didn't feel right, so I tried splittimg the lines - first with yesterday's. That's whenthe idea of the two towers struck. I think that's Jim 1: Dave 0! Nice comment. Thanks.

David
It's that ole devil man! He behind me all the time!

Windsmoke
That's marvellous. Now I need to know what formed the image so that I can bottle it. Thanks.

Carl
Good on ya, Carl!

ArtistUnplugged
Good to have you visiting again. Thanks for the kind comment.

Jack Edwards Poetry said...

Vivid poetry. I loved it! I am amazed by its structure.

Dave King said...

Jack
Welcome, good to have you visiting. Thanks for saying what you felt. (Apologies for not responding earlier.)