Richard Long 'Red Slate Circle' 1988
Lines for Richard Long
John James
the
grey colour of a pear
in the quiet light of the kitchen
the glittering
branches at the window
the force of the hearth breaks out
invoking
name & lineage
it's a good step
that will continue to the end without
arriving
When you take up your pack & go
to the remote & desert places
of the Earth
your path is a watercourse
or a torrent on the slope
the walker in summer-time on slanting ground
in a robe of vapour
by
night there will be shelter
in the hollow & the cleft
I was a walker
in earth before I was proficient in learning
catching the deep night & dawn
divide
the of the curling wave on the extended shore
now the leg
thinks in distance & the arm in weights
CLOUD SUN CLOUD THUNDER CLOUD
HAIL RAIN SUN
Saturday lime Sunday oak & quick-thorn
the place of the
little drop & the length of the Avon
when it fills when it overflows
when
it disappears in a dark thicket
quick sunlight between clouds
& from
above the tops of the whirling trees
measure the veil of the drops in the air
at the width of the river's mouth
when the sea is turning round
the
words in the book & the book in its beginning
Richard Long 'Cornish Slate Ellipse' 2009
John James was born in Cardiff in 1939. His publications include Striking the
Pavilion of Zero (Ian McKelvie, 1975), Berlin Return (Délires, Ferry Press,
Grosseteste Press, 1983), and Dreaming Flesh (Street Editions, 1991). His most
recent collection of poems is Kinderlieder (Avocado, 1992).
Note: 'Lines
for Richard Long' is an extract from a longer poem of the same title which,
subsequent to its commission and appearence in part in the first edition of this
anthology in 1986, was published in full by Silver Hounds in 1988.