I notice it more
on early summer evenings
when I sit with the door
open onto the garden
the rich melodies
of several species
intertwined
in the warm air
I cannot see where
the birds are perched
nor even tell exactly
where the song
is coming from
but it cheers me no end
and I recognise it
as an act of thanksgiving
John Lyons
Emerson was right
: thought makes things
fit for use
and Zukofsky echoed
There is no life
without purpose
no exalted rose
no winedark Aegean Sea
no beauty or truth
no love
The poet’s task
is to tell it as it is
to denounce tyranny
to laud good governance
So Homer blindly sang
of Helen’s beauty
and of the strength and wit
of Ulysses and Dante
delivered Beatrice
from hell’s depths
Kosmos means beauty :
thoughts make a world
fit for use
with words together
we make a life
fit for love
John Lyons
A world fit for love
Emerson was right
: thought makes things
fit for use
and Zukofsky echoed
There is no life
without purpose
no exalted rose
no winedark Aegean Sea
no beauty or truth
no love
The poet’s task
is to tell itas it is
to denounce the tyrant
to laud good governance
to align with the poor
with the aged
with the weak the infirm
to petition for justice
to abhor each criminal act
whatever its provenance
So Homer blindly sang
of Helen’s beauty
and of the strength and wit
of Ulysses
and in poetry
Dante delivered Beatrice
from hell’s depths
Kosmos equals beauty
so thought makes a world
fit for use and together
we make a life
fit for love
John Lyons
Every word
was once a poem
the sea and the rose
the sea rose
the shadows
that scuttle
along the shore
at sunset
or the sun high
in the June sky
love
and its enactment
the clinch
the kiss
every word
once poem
and all words
portmanteaus
of their previous
utterance
that the poet refreshes
as he resurrects
her hair
her lips
her eyes
all fit
for poetry
enunciation
annunciation
the tale in the telling
and so we move
from day to night
from table to chair
and so to bed
John Lyons
The revelation
of what is hidden
in the blood
the passion
that moves muscle
that fires the breath
that moves men and women
to words
John Lyons
The poem
and the rose
deserve
each other
John Lyons
What are we dealing with here
for example when Keats
studies the Grecian Urn
—one sensibility seen
through another
across the ages
the melodic silence
of expectation
and the timeless anticipation
of desire’s fulfilment
but also how the world
is held in the mind
how it is turned over
and examined
by a forensic poetry
looking for evidence
and recording
an affirmation of beauty
the collateral of which
is truth
all in the warm teasing
sensual pant of poetry
John Lyons
That’s what it is
language developed
over thousands of years
meanings attributed to things
and feelings and the relationships
between people and objects
the evolution of sounds
into an expressive
orchestration all held
in the collective mind
a phonetic transcription
of the universe
of the cosmos
which signifies beauty
and when did love
first set foot
on the planet
and who was the first to utter
those simple words
that so transformed the heart
and placed the noble organ
on the ultimate pedestal
John Lyons
How else
to gild the lily
other than
through words
words
that bloom
in poetry
Some lilies
are toxic
to cats
and yet
the flowers and roots
of some species
are edible
to humans
Why cats ?
John Lyons
Future generations
will ask who built this city
who lived within the confines
of these tall steel and glass structures
who stripped the streets
of their warmth and their humanity
who piled misery upon misery
in places where no grass grew
where no tree blossomed
where even the birds
struggled to retain their sense
of melody and failed
At night the sullen grey river
runs it course heading down
to the sea where all dreams end
At night there is silence but for the wail
of sirens that deter rather than attract
At night even the sleep of lovers
will be broken on the hard bed
of intemperate progress
each gasping breath assessed
for its value
for its profit
for its loss
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 