'To Give Painless Light' – A Selection of Poems by LJS

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Poem 148: Prelude to Letting an Angel Pass

Many are the crippled shadows that have passed this way across the
stone square, paved with weeping and the flowers that an old lady dressed entirely in soft black light will sell to you. She sits behind the diamond pillar of day and night and occasionally tilts her head back … Read the rest


Poem 147: Recipe for Painless Light.

2 figurines,1 vase of flowers,1 wall plate
1 fan light,1 chess board.
__________________

on the mantle peacefully don Quixote
does his balancing act
very wooden, very fragile, very sad still
looking for that wandering plain,
resolute in his silence, redeemed in his madness,
tilting to one side, he spins his … Read the rest


Poem 146: Prelude to Recipe for Painless Light

There is a demon crouching at the bottom of the cupboard. He cannot
speak.He has never been able to speak. He was struck dumb in the night
of his birth.He is surrounded by a field of dark silence that absorbs all sound
on contact. His skin is the colour of … Read the rest


Poem 145: Chaco

above us, the sun,
a lasered sky blue
hardened disc,
throwing down
heat onto the
painted desert stones,
and when refracted
by the mirror of thin air
it picks up
and hazily pulls in
this southwestern
ark of light
narrowly floating upon
this newly serrated air
held ironically above
the … Read the rest


Poem 144: The Wound Dresser

house of rain
drumming skin,
moth quickens ,
beating against
the pain of glass.

She is here, not here.
a heartbeat skip
sees the grasshopper hero
in the meadow green,
Dresden sheen,
water dance
in the porcelain,
contained light
moving in simpatico flow
that unravels
a pulse in the fingers,… Read the rest


Poem 143: Holding Patterns (2)

hide bound
in the fragile sphere
of your turning inner
to outer garments
of speech,
addressing willow strengths,
waiting out the storm
in the doorway
of the inside out lock
of walking on water
as the children
push out the boat
from your farther
most shore, to bring,
on warm … Read the rest


Poem 142: Holding Patterns (1)

holding patterns

of dead leaves

in your cupped

hands

curled

light

lets go.… Read the rest


Poem 141: Tenemos

standing on this shore
hip deep in the warmth
of your elemental pocket
the deep slate grey
overcast with its clear wind
is embraced
in the seminal wave
of your hair
and moves perfectly
as a hand to eye gesture
to the wing
and gulled horizons
that spring to mind… Read the rest


Poem 140: Easter Isle and the Storm Out to Sea.

if light standing
should cast a stone
there would be singing
in this place,
where summer is beached
and shimmering
as waves toll the bell
over this twilight
of shattered shells,
where once the
archaic spiders
worked their charm
over this web of Eden .
and the grey gargoyles
of … Read the rest


Poem 139: Cutting Loose in the USA

fire in the dog
glow in the bone
clutch in the heart
fog in the throat
avalanche in the ear
balls in the feet
thunder in the head
waters hope in the garden
of the licking groin,
where moisture springs
eternal in the apple
of the juicy aye
lights the … Read the rest


Poem 138: Pyro Viriditas/ the Green Fire

swaying reason-ably
to the rhythm and rhyme
of our safely back to back
promise, absolute
in this belled shelter
of shivered time, grinding
heat into this moments
sliver of hammering cold,
turning cartwheels
in the heat of the snow rutting
in the frosted track,
watched by the iron rimmed eyes… Read the rest


Poem 137: Anubis Dreams of Being a Hawk

light moving
inside dark water is
blood dreaming
for the earth,
as the tillers chain of light
seeds the plough of darkness,
to caress the shallow nerve,
open the vein,
and the liquid dreams
of the hawk on fire,
carved in gold,
spinning the cycles
of the moon
as a … Read the rest


Poem 136: In the Patterns

in the patterns
of whether or not
rapt then unwrapped
in stone
the image pre-seeds itself
and proceeds from self
to knock on would,
or what if,
in the process
and weathering
of maybe.

and yet in the heart,
clouds and hypothesis
are formed this way
sun in the stone… Read the rest


Poem 135: Simple Gifts

that you cannot contain,
own or disown
her voices bending
this light for you now
hand held and arcing
into this darkness
that you fear,
surrendering
your devils
and familiar spirits
to her velvet web
that tightens the strings
of the formless,
balancing image and deficit
Indra dances for her… Read the rest


Poem 134: Is This all it Takes

your eyes were opened
in a moment
in the twinkling of which
the blinds were raised
and my blindness healed
running from this temple
of gold and archaic shadows
to the streets of dust
and white heat.

you smiled at
my capering madness
as the light came
roaring through my … Read the rest


Poem 133: Masque

insubstantial now

as the light withdraws

and shadows return

the particles of darkness

as we stretched and expanded

on this rack of pleasant pain

ebb softly and fly against

this thin clear moon

that night etches

voices and flows

through us like a river.… Read the rest


Poem 132: In This Darkness

we should make love in the dark
you and I,
the first time when as strangers
we come
to this touching, but softly.

who says we are in hiding
in this darkness, surely not
from each other when I have held
you in my mind a thousand times
a day, … Read the rest


Poem 131: Birth

worship then

the ten thousand gods

that inhabit his senses

worship him

and then

each one in turn

in the turning

of his aspect

growing in

your recognition

of his birth

he worships you.

_________________

I weep for you

and the joy

you will give

and the joy

you will … Read the rest


Poem 130: A Flight of Swans

a flight of swans

pouring out

from a cauldron

of troubled sky,

their wings are fire

gold and gifted

from the savage sun,

clouds blossom

infinitely, torn from

a deeply hard

and roaring blue,

the wave

of white hesitates-

wings crack

and descend

as slowly

as settling ice.… Read the rest


Poem 129: Debbie

at last a unicorn

that sings

a fierce and slaying

song

and bites

the hand that feeds

its birth

thus breaking

myths, feraly.

________________

the body

is an opening place

for wounds

to heal the timbres

of even your

swiftest dealing

of the street routines

that tear at the strings… Read the rest


Poem 128: Marriage

one ring

to guard

the day

one ring

to guard

the night

one ring

to bind them

a rainbow

ring of love

and light.

_____________

in this night

laying down

a bed spread

of candlelight

making

with our hands

a fashioning

of the beloved.… Read the rest


Poem 127: Fault Line

at this point
the image is running,

running

on into a circus
of fault finding
fault, and this becomes
the deadly practise
of catching
the brilliant worm of love
travelling poor
in colour and sight,
released from the earth
of single effort
sliced to unite itself
but found to be… Read the rest


Poem 126: Argument

in contemplation

of my cowardice

I shaft away

from the leaning slant

of your anger’s sun

blinding pivot

of no choice

but to reduce the

he who hesitates

to lost, lost

and lost again.… Read the rest


Poem 125: Alice in Wonderland

beneath a sea

of indifferent storms

she reigns

as the blackest of fire

calm as the night queen

from the court of flame

in the looking glass

shining as hard as stone,

but delicate as a web

or mantle of snow

in the realm of trees,

dancing for the sun,… Read the rest