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Derek Shiel
RITUAL FOR THE CEREMONY POISED THEY WAIT FOR THE DRUM TO BEGIN TO BECOME DANCERS ROUSED BY ITS RHYTHM IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN INTO REVERIE FOLIAGE CONFINED TO SHADOWS THICK PATTERS THEIR BODIES LIMBS DAUBED IN BRIGHT COLOURS CLAY SMOOTH ON THE SKIN EMBLAZONED WITH STRIPES WHITE BLUE AND RED COGNITION IGNITES WHILE THE SUN SPLITS THE IMAGE DISSOLVES COMING INTO FOCUS SOMETHING NOT KNOWN ENLIVENED IN TRANSIT THE PICTURE TRANSFORMS SACRIFICED ANIMAL ROASTS OVER THE FIRE UNDER THE SUN BEATS THE DRUM INTO NIGHT MOMENT A MOMENT TO BE NOW NOW THIS MOMENT NOW MOMENTARILY BEGIN OR END FIND OR FORFEND A DRAUGHT PASSING THROUGH NOT QUITE HERE BUT WHERE HOW IT HAPPENS CAUGHT IN A GUST REINED INTO LIVING MOMENT BY MOMENT EMBOLDENED ANY MOMENT TO BE WHAT UNEVENING ENLIVENING HERE'S WHERE HOW'S WHY COLOURS COVERS THE GROUND DULLISH GREEN A PATCH OF RED SITS BESIDE BLUE ENLIVENED BY YELLOW BECAUSE OF THE BLUE MADE EVEN YELLOWER THE TWO TONES ALMOST SIMILAR A SHRILL LEMON SET AGAINST ACID PINK OUTWEIGHING THAT ONE STROKE OF VIVID VERMILION BROWN NEARLY BLACK DARKEST BURNT UMBER AKIN TO DEEPEST ALIZARIN HEIGHTENED FROM CARMINE INTO PALE ROSE HIVING OFF VIOLENT PINK BLUEST CERULEAN LEANS TOWARDS TURQUOISE TO CONTRAST WITH ORANGE SOME DISTANCE FROM PINK OR FROM THAT RED DAUB AGAINST THE GREEN GROUND CRYING HE CRIES IS CRYING WAS CRYING HE CRIED HAS CRIED HAD CRIED HE WIPES HIS EYES NOW NEVER CRIES TOO BIG TO CRY AND WHO WOULD WANT TO SEE HIM CRY BUT THIS IS WHAT TO HIS SURPRISE PRODUCES TEARS These poems are taken from Poems by Derek Shiel.
To order copies of Poems by Derek Shiel, £6.00 plus postage and packing, please contact (in UK): 020 7286 1173 or email: derek.agshiel@gmail.com Derek Shiel is a painter, sculptor and writer living and working in London, UK. For more information visit www.sculptedsound.com or connect with Derek at www.facebook.com/derek.shiel1 and www.myspace.com/derekshiel He writes: "I am interested in Modernist ideas about the word and the layout of a poem on a page. I've used capital letters because the poems are to be 'spoken' rather than 'read' and I dislike serifs which make the writing appear dated. Turning to contemporary influences, I am intrigued by the buzzword, the sound bite and text message. A new language of speed is already being created. Can the Italian poet Marinetti's idea of the 'word in freedom' hold its own against the fact that all words carry associations and derivations, extending back centuries, if not more than a thousand years, unless they are nonsensical or onomatopoeic words? What is perhaps less usual is that most of these poems, when performed rather than read, are for two voices. Male and female seem best but of course the poems can be spoken by two speakers of the same sex, provided their voices are sufficiently contrasted." |