#58 The Empire of Lights

Noisy birds silence
the trees. Someone
is reading as they
sleep. Against the blue
the house has braced
for night. Entrance is
gained through a door
in the roof. The pond
is full of stars. A street-
lamp echoes. The sky
is empty. Only clouds.

#57 The False Mirror (1)

sky
in the
eye

#56 The Explanation (1)

Just as in
Edwardian
portraiture

it is the off-
spring who
is lying on

the ground.

#55 Dangerous Liaisons

She held a
mirror up
to herself
then turned
away from it,
almost as if
this brief
liaison with
her own flesh
held too much
danger to be
confronted.

#54 The Future of Statues

for Vincent Ponka

It was the
elegance of
the diving birds
that caught his
fancy. That,
& the fact the sea
was made
from stone. He
closed his eyes
& let the sky
stream over
him. The clouds
contained a
hint of snow.

#53 The Month of the Grape Harvest (1)

Open window.

Many men
in bowler hats.

The same man
over & over.

Looking in.
No looking out.

A sealed room.
Hermetic fusion.

September.

#52 The Art of Conversation I (1950)

No chance
assemblage. Too much
structure in the
way the blocks
are stacked. Look
at the base. REVE is
real & not
a dream. Foucault
describes it
as a landscape from
the battle of the giants
against the gods;
but if that
is so then
someone has come along
afterwards &
tidied up. Added an
after word. Re-
written history.

#51 Perspective II: Manet's Balcony

Whether it be
fête or
theater

or just

sitting
on the balcony
watching
the funeral
parade pass
by

Manet
insisted

his family
always dress
to reflect the
occasion.

#50 The Red Model

This
is a painting
I have
wanted
to write about
for some
time

but
the need to
leave my feet
at the door
for fear of
dirtying
the carpet

has
always
constrained
me.

#49 The Lovers II

Memory does not
hold its
shape. Blurring
occurs. Always tricky
getting the light
right & how
much of the
initial energy signature
of love can be
retained? Things
change, return as
indifferent faces
in different
settings. What lasts
is how the lovers
shared a space, not
how they looked
at one another.

#48 The Central Story

The hand
at the throat
that holds
the veil in
place. The small
euphonium. A
closed suitcase.
Death &
departure.

As a
reference point
it would be
hard
to go past
the central story
that the face
of Magritte's
mother
was covered
by her
nightdress
when
her body
was taken out
of the River Sambre
after her
suicide.

Case
closed.

But what
would we find
if we
opened it?