A companion to THE WORD OF SINNA LUVVA blog. An Outlet for new poems, drafts of poems and even rediscovered or reworked ones! For more poetry by Malcolm Evison see the Related Sites listing.

Friday, February 08, 2013

on the road to the isles


ON THE ROAD TO THE ISLES
 
 

 

Numbed by this alien terrain,

where truth spells a montony

of rain, we ride entombed

 

towards our Shangri-La.

 

Each fresh horizon

taunts the tired eye,

echoes the fretful sense

 

of hours gone by.

 

A weariness pervades

this no-man's land.

 

*****

 

Go West young man!

We make our final fling -

 

turning to be embraced

by fire. The mist resorbed,

light's pan-theophany

 

revives a blighted mind.

 

Rainbows and thunderfall engrave

their echoes on the boundary

of our wonderment, refresh

 

a dormant sense.

The sky line seethes -

sun sanctified.

 

*****

 

White, searing, the unseen sun

burns from the core

of mountains, transforms

 

a shroud of haze

into a panoply of light.

Rocks swallowed by, still seize

 

upon this shimmering -

a spectral residue

of more torrential times.

 

 

 

Malcolm Evison

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

One for Richard III



Guess what positively identified car park skeleton prompted me to re-publish this poem


MISSION BETRAYED

[Redemore 22 August 1485]



Misjudged by many of my peers,

betrayed by those in whom

I placed my trust. Today



I sift through memory,

acknowledge scheming in my blood -

the unquenched thirst



of generations. Betrayal

led me to accept defeat

out of the very jaws



of victory. I clung

to pride.



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



A Judas multiplied

was on my side,

in faith, I thought them



little Christs. Their company

made for me

a lonely ride.



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



The wetlands bogged me down,

Canuted by the rapid-turning tide.



Today I made myself

a pawn

for Tudors grasping hand -



Today I died a King,

upheld the remnants

of my dignity.



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



My crown was no more theft

than fate contrives

to thrust on monarchy itself -



Today I have my pride.


                       Malcolm Evison

Friday, January 11, 2013

First Rite


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