Aged Poet has done some more archive trawling

A (final) working draft of a poem from the Thatcher Era can be found on 'Archive Mined & Freshly Spun' (DOLE-FULL BLUES).

MOVING

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)

Freshly Minted on 'Archive Mined'

A freshly minted poem, NEED IS A PURPOSE, can be found on 'Archive Mined and Freshly Spun'

TWILIGHT SEARCH

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

Morning

Morning


Blackly embroidered
against the morning sky,
three trees.

Filtering silver
through the mist; the sun
emerges into day.

But nothing seems
so real as in my dreams.

I grow into my death
it does not bind me:

the silence penetrates
my thoughts –
the face of Christ. In death
he conquered life,
turning even the shadows
into a source of light.

Death conquers life, life
death. The black and white,
merely the parts of one.

Under the endless weight of time
lies truth. Beneath the endless weight
of sky this earth. Waking
then walking through the quiet scene
the mist defines the dream
as truth.

Mist filtered early
morning sun
blackly embroidered trees.

The frosted earth
and silver sky destroys
all barriers.


Malcolm Evison

CEMENTING RELATIONSHIPS

Cementing Relationships

Seeking a concrete image
to convey
a pre-stressed thought
I lay foundations
for a fettered space.

The blue-print fails
the structure
falls
far short of my emotion.

Set in my ways,
unable to explore
the breaking strain
my need will carry.

Construct a hermitage
of words;
contain
a solitude
upon the pristine page.

Malcolm Evison

ADAM and EVE

These are two complementary poems from my collection 'THE STILLNESS MOVES' (Outposts, 1970)

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

New Poem on 'Archive Mined'

A newly minted poem, DAZZLED DILEMMA, can be found on 'Archive Mined & Freshly Spun'

Two New Poems (first drafts)

So much of my time is spent, within the four walls of my home, observing seasonal changes in the garden and the more regular changes of skyscape. The following two poems (or at least jottings towards a poem) were provided by a rather bland sky a few minutes ago. Of course it's quite obvious how the second jotting emerged from the first.

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

Malcolm Evison

4 February 2008

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

Malcolm Evison

4 February 2008

The Road To Damascus

ROAD TO DAMASCUS

Found, on the street, a stray

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

WINDBLOWN

WINDBLOWN

The howling gale subsides
to lullaby proportions -

the wind’s bluster
suddenly becalmed -

I watch the scudding clouds -
their bellies washed

by a low surfing sun -
no-one has told them

to stop their scurrying
so I return to mine.

Malcolm Evison
27 January 2008

Restoration

RESTORATION


A psychiatrist is duty
Cunningly disguised as man –

Defending the historic truths
Once made by mindless men
He views the scapegoat
Through a microscope
And the freedom
Proves embarrassing.

The victim has the time
To stand and stare
But will not say that
Those are sheep
And those are cows

He has no need

The doctor states it for him.

****

Enter the clinic as a man
Depart as a role
Leaving the poem
Unwritten.





Malcolm Evison (1967)