Shearsman 62: Frances Presley: "April / on Grabbist"

Shearsman 62

Frances Presley

April

on Grabbist

for Ian Robinson

saint george traffics
scrub oak bends further

lichen thickens
too many twists
in these trees
the weight of moss
the fracture of bark
sitting bone cracks

'it was that bone which got broken in my neck…
the one they break when they hang people'

sand stones
percolate
periculo

black burnt gorse
'too late to save the heather'

they're making a clearance for
the purple headed mountain
because it is written
and according to estate

tree spindles upwards
economically inactive
but greening

circle these iron circles

cypress skyline
teeth towers
dark drawn in
shorthand
fade out

green circles move and tilt
leftward and
rightward slopes

sun on neck
uncircled

these sticks
my arms
will kindle
in gorse flower
air

..............................................................................................................

'Thanks for the card – more trees! …. A tree does finally sneak its way in in the
last of the enclosed drawings. I do hope you like them all – I meant to do 3 only
but I tend to work in series until the vein is exhausted. It isn't quite yet.'
(from Ian Robinson, 3/5/00)

Frances Presley's latest collection is the excellent Paravane. New and Selected Poems from Salt Publishing, Cambridge (2004). She lives in London and is a member of the editorial board of How2.