Two Lakeland Poems

These poems were both written in 1980

CONISTON WATER

Sudden blackness
turns away the light -
the lake suffused
with night, mirrors

a range of hills
reaching for fallen stars.
A dark reflection

trapped

between opaque shores.


Malcolm Evison



LANGDALE PIKES

Thrusting, as if to burst
the blue day's calm -
these pinnacles erupt

to destroy, or magnify
the ranging line -
we tremble as they breast

the solitudes of time.


Malcolm Evison


Two more archive poems have been posted by your truly on 'Archive MIned and Freshly Spun' under the title SMILES and FEARS

Flocks and Congregations

FLOCKS AND CONGREGATIONS

A darkly brooding

Congregation

Of cumuli glowers

Overhead

Threatens to destroy

Our horizon

A neighbouring flock

Glows brightly

Caressed by the sun

We ignore the gloom

And drive

Towards the light

Malcolm Evison

7 September 2007

Reflected Glory

REFLECTED GLORY

Macbeth of a sudden
broke his leg
as he bade the green room crowd
"good luck"

at this the mirror
was all broken up
and vowed
never to say aloud

the name of the king
now lying
in shattered glory.


Malcolm Evison
19 August 2007

Rude Awakening

RUDE AWAKENING


The telephonic shrill
urgents me
blearily into dawn.

Discomfited I roll
myself across
a seeming endless

counterpane,

set foot
on an insecure floor,
retrieve the handset

and receive
a droning earful.

Bliss was it in that dawn
to be asleep,
to be awakened serves

to remind oneself
they’re far from heaven.


Malcolm Evison
4 August 2007

That Day (For Helen)

THAT DAY (for Helen)


That day we found each other,
or perhaps the day
found us.

Though neither of us knew
what we were looking for,
a clasp of hands, an affirmation

of each others presence -
meant more
than either of us knew.

That day we found
each other -
and suddenly we knew.


Malcolm Evison
May 2007

Splash Into Spring

SPLASH INTO SPRING

A sprinkling splash,

a sudden flash

of ruddy gold -

the first spring stirrings.

A long, slow, turgid rest

supplanted

by these vital chimes.

Today

they share the sunshine's joy -

and ripple wilfully.

Last seasons debris

stirred and shaken,

the fish escape

their sedimentary rest,

herald the promise

of brighter days to come.

Like me, they must have felt

they'd plumbed the depths

for far too long.

Malcolm Evison

14 March 2007

I posted this newly minted poem, yesterday, on GARBLED NOISE - a new multi-contributor blog!

A Noble Silence

A NOBLE SILENCE


The winds howl stung
like a babble
of boisterous children

freshly released
from their desks enslavement –

eyes smart and ears burn,
tears stain
our cheeks, our words

disintegrate –
each futile utterance
yields

to the elemental
sound and fury.
We battle on

maintain a noble silence.

Malcolm Evison

18 February 2007

Mid-Winter Trees

MIDWINTER TREES

Up close the trees
stand starkly bright -
they catch the sun's
low grazing light.

Their distant serried ranks
transform
the ranging hills sharp line.

The sun crowned tracery
of twigs is fused

into a frond of flame.


Malcolm Evison
18 February 2007

First Rite

This is my first poem of the New Year, written this afternoon.

First Rite

Reluctantly compliant twigs

permit the murmuring wind

to pluck arpeggios -

they glisten as they dance,

throw off the recent rain,

as if to solemnize the ground

in Holy baptism.

Shoots drill

through the cold

sodden ground,

shrilling defiance.

Snow’s residue,

a blanket stitch,

hems in the pale green spears.

A sunbeam breaks

the day’s grey wash -

as if to bless

this new emergence.

Malcolm Evison

24 January 2007

The Poet

I've just been riffling through a few old working manuscripts and stumbled upon this one written sometime between 1969 and 1971.

THE POET

That is, if I dare say, my destiny. To grasp

and to expand, each feeling moment. Eternity

not mere renewal. Fearing the used-words

of my thought. My destiny. Are the words mine

to use, is any word, a property. I speak

in fear of loosely spoken

words. My destiny!

***********

Today and alone, I return. To what –

all has changed and still I know it is.

My returning. Home and the word

And the thought of the word. Home, and the skies

are open, and a song

of welcome pounds through my veins. Home,

and my eyes can see the song.

Today. And no more alone. I return.

***************

And night conceals. Not even a whisper is heard.

So silently another dawn – and the fields,

the fields open as if to swallow me. I sit

and remember

(before the night/ another today)

a home. A destiny.

Alive. A sound. A shattering.

A whisper of you

from you for me. All is alive

with sound. The yawning trees, the birds

burst into song – the trees and images

of you. The blossoming and songs.

Songs in my mind and you

beside me. A song. A touch of you

on me; I feel

that you need me (not only I need you)

a sound, a touch – transforming words into

a destiny.

Malcolm Evison

TRANSFORMED (for Helen)

TRANSFORMED

(for Helen)

Right now I feel

the urge to scream

forget the aching limbs

dance deftly

on the brim

of my emotions.

Right now

I feel the lure of love

the light

that breaches

my stoical defence.

I see your face

I glow with joy -

right now

there is no you or I

as we rejoice.

Right now I am

alive with you -

I feel -

imbibe the air of this

our perfect world.

Malcolm Evison

13 December 2006

A Way of Seeing

A WAY OF SEEING


This room is an echo –
echo of all my dreams. The actor
waiting for a role. The preacher listening
to silent voices, expecting
tongues of flame. The fields
are tumbling
down towards the road. Alone,
that’s not like loneliness, a brightness

flows from distant murmuring.
Approaching friends, or strangers even.
The valley is alive, the room
is echoing
with hope. Pain falls
a victim to its own dis-ease. The room

is light; the light reveals
my will to see. It enters me.

I dwell
in brightened shadows,
ignoring shadowed light.


Malcolm Evison