AN OUTSIDE
for Kim Pieters
1
What is the difference
between sinews and strings,
three-part harmony and trinitarian prayer,
anonymous wood and the Cross?
- Intention, which causes rumours to
stopper your mouth, the kids to
dare one another then end up
down the hospital, the ballerina to
slip like a granny knot, the flag to
hang at half-mast. - Inattention,
which is the death of the heroic
on a country road where clouds
rest over the learner's determination
until her borrowed Ford spins
out of this world. - Attention,
which directs the fingers of Cy Twombly,
the eyes of Kim Pieters, a child's
calligraphy on the skyline..
2
Landscape. Scratches, blood
vessels carrying scriven data
into the light of - light. You
remove thorns from your haunches
as cicadas scrape a living.
What have you got to
say? I want I want I want
'jouissance': pleasure without
separation. Diminish the distance
between making and viewing;
let the audience sharpen your pencil
while galvanised iron reflects
the noon sun. Light will not
fall, it will radiate like God
knows what, like nothing
on earth, like a model's blush
under the brush, or rose-water
pouring from an upturned pitcher.
3
If you do not speak you will be spoken
for. Origin and the loss of origin
inherent in becoming
a subject, the Avon River insinuates
itself into the Pacific, which will insinutate
itself into the Atlantic. At Sumner
your storehouse is on the shore: walk
in, wiping dust from the mirror
the way surf wipes your footprints
off the face of the earthly. You
no longer represent your self.
Well, you know, be careful.
Like the gull scuttering before the storm
don't engage, evade; like the lover
whisper because you have the power to
shout: 'Hey, Daddy, I'm over here.'
David Howard
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