MIMI
(aged 2 ½ years)
Wrapped in the warm fragrance
of the everyday
she moves mountains –
only to stumble
on the commonplace.
Complacency
so easily destroyed.
I try to capture it
with words, they writhe
relentlessly. She laughs
allows the world
to write
its affirmation.
Malcolm Evison
MAN FOR HIS AGE
Care-worn he leads
his guilt free life,
turns fears
into a bar-room joke –
he never fails
though sometimes falls
a victim to
“the changing times”.
Suburban heroes never weep,
they share with celluloid
an inability to bleed.
He veils his sorrows in
a sentimental song
and never sins –
his standards are complete
and up to date.
A true son
of a dying race.
Malcolm Evison
Flutter By Moment
it alights
softer than a whisper
on my sleeve
almost
as if it sought me out
I sit
relax
breathe in the gentle air -
the butterfly
spreads out its wings -
this moment
I am
at one
with nature
sharing the fragility
imagining
a place where all
could feel secure -
wearing
the butterfly
like a heart
on my sleeve
Malcolm Evison
17 July 2008
GREY DAY
the light
or lack of it
strives to deny
day’s movement
the change
from slate
to milky grey
holds sway
the sky
is unremitting cloud
shrouding the day
in timelessness
there are no contrasts
simply a hint
that the earth
may yet prove flat
Malcolm Evison
5 July 2008
Nightscape with Rainfall
The rudiments of fear
trace each step;
the hollow echoes
dampered by the rain.
Haunted by absences -
the lack
of any company
to take the chill away -
a sudden surge
of cowardice betrays
his vanity.
The rudiments of fear
trace each step,
the hollow echo
silenced by the rain.
The last bedraggled remnant
of false pride
lies submerged
in his timid haste.
Whilst putting books back on their shelves, following recent decorating activity, I noticed a few dated jottings on the end papers of some volumes. (I had a habit of scribbling on the most immediately accessible blank piece of paper in those days).
I'm slightly mystified by this one but, something appeals/haunts me as I try to understand my more youthful mind-set.
MOVING
Times climate false and reasoned
calls me out of the dawn
into the full of light; moving
with great deliberation
full of ideas
as they are full of me -
time is the length of me
but I am larger
undefiled; moving
beyond the impotence
escaping
the disciplined innocence
of values which weigh
no heavier
than my tears of joy.
Malcolm Evison
14 January 1969
(re-moulded 12 May 2008)
TWILIGHT SEARCH
The mind finds purpose
in pursuit of meaning;
openly seeking,
not knowing what.
The sky is vacant,
anaemically slate blue;
but night will fall,
add colour
to a pallid firmament.
The eye will forge
patterns
from a scattering
of stars.
The mind pursues
a greater scheme –
not knowing what.
Malcolm Evison
20 April 2008
ADAM
This man, this image is the scheme
of things. This pure delight
he finds as he touches
the flesh of a woman. Man-made
this gift of God, the rib that grew
and blossomed to preserve
the blossoming. The man seeks entrance, strives
to heal the wound. Who can unite
these themes; this earth, these images,
his dreams - deeper than knowledge?
This man, this image is
the scheme of things -
within it and beyond.
Malcolm Evison
EVE
There and unknown; unknowing. This one
this moment is. There
and she does not know it. She is.
The man moves from his loneliness
toward her. She looks ahead,
her gaze, steady and confident. Her eyes
affirm the day. He cannot share it, sensing
that her lips betray, this confidence.
He reaches out to touch
her face, her lips tremblingly apart;
a silent fear disturbs
and beautifies. There are no words.
(She, he, wait for the mystery
to reveal itself).
The touch. Words drop their silent veil.
“Amen”, she says, discovering the word.
“Thank-you”, he says, discovering their power.
Together theirs is praise: separate and one.
Malcolm Evison
Displaying Not Disclosing
low cloud diffuses light
yet draws my sight
beyond it's own opacity
this grey tinged sky
defies all understanding
sun bathed it strives
to shield my eyes
from the radiance
that lies beyond its curtain
A Glass So Deeply Stained
sun bleached
low veiling cloud
denies all access
to the light beyond
my faith
is shrouded
when I fail
to share its light -
I pray
others may find
a breach in my opacity
4 February 2008
ROAD TO
memory. A faded
photograph, poised
on the pavements edge.
I pick it up and ask
“who’s smiling now”.
The smoke of distant chimneys, hangs
like a solemn vow.
A bird glides down
and strikes
the shrouded sky.
The feathered-flesh
made word,
it screams “defy”.
(Now elevate the moment
separate
the power of darkness
from your restless mind.)
A sudden beam of light
destroys the shroud.
Malcolm Evison
September 1971
