No words required!
Barbed wire
art
John Cage does painting
John Cage does painting
Contemplate in silence
a rectangular canvas
washed in mustard yellow
there is nothing there
but the surface
and the dimensions
and a few imperceptible
flaws in the fabric
nothing to distract the eye
no composition
nor any relationships
other than with the space
crowded around
the four sides
of this object
of artistic intention
Make of it
what you will
it took almost a lifetime
to complete
Make of that
what you will
John Lyons
Enigma of the imagination
Enigma of the imagination
From a blank canvas
two ghostly figures emerge
nameless
faceless —
we know nothing
of where they’re coming from
know nothing
of where they’re heading
Heaven and earth appear to be aligned
but what is
this couple’s relationship
and what would they say
if they had words to tell ?
Brushed in ochre
shrouded in space
surrounded by silence
they are an enigma
of the imagination
John Lyons
Revised
The wheel of art
The wheel of art
who made the leap
from hunting gathering
to hand prints
bison and antelopes
on the cave wall
and Jackson Pollock
scouring a white canvas
prowling back and forth
waiting to pounce
to lunge at the surface
in stabbing motions
to open wounds
that drip
with colour
John Lyons
Intelligence is energy
Intelligence is energy
I make no claims
other than to say
that intelligence is energy
and it manifests itself
for better or worse
in every realm of art
the king is a thing
that Shakespeare moves
around a stage
before our eyes
and in our head
painting too
is poetry
and poets paint
composers offer us
their soundscapes
out of Carrara marble
using hammer and chisel
and the energy
of his intelligence
Michelangelo extracted
his David which now exists
in an active universe
eternally bent on creation
John Lyons
Gertrude Stein – a portrait
Gertrude Stein – a portrait
Neatly folded napkins
and freshly cut roses
in a cut glass vase
a long oak table
guests to populate it :
amid the wealth of words
silences cultivated
in every nook and cranny
Alice and her embroidery
Gertrude with hers
a carafe of red wine
sparkling silverware
shining porcelain
At the window
heavy drapes
to keep out the dust
and for the world
to know its place
Sometimes always
occasionally
loving glances
often exchanged
time under orders
and life
on its best behaviour :
a dog with a name
a stern smile
the making of history
word by word
line by line
John Lyons
Revised
By my own hand, 2015
By my own hand, 2015
In the process of being
this is whom I once was
before being
who I am now
A portrait
by my own hand
by my own eyes
on A4 vellum
in pen pencil
and charcoal
this is
the crushed ash
of whom
I once was
will be again
caught here
just before
love struck
John Lyons
Snail’s pace
Snail’s pace
Under the cover of darkness
snails engage in erratic movement
leaving a thin trail behind them :
survival of the species demands
that they seek out new sources
of nutrition in order
to secure their line
energy to drag their shells
forward into the future
just as I leave in my wake
a haphazard dribble
of words and colours
John Lyons
Les Illuminations
Les Illuminations
Bursts of lightning
scattering the darkness
thick drops of rain
beating against the pane
I stare out
across the green horizon
: yesterday a butterfly
today a moth
come to bury its eggs
in her cashmere
she counts her trinkets
under an atrocious moon
a sad child squats
in silence
John Lyons
Prelude to the day
Prelude to the day
Instances of what we are
shifting portraits
temporal illusions
dressed for the occasion
in which context is all
The sea retains the memory
of creatures that crawled
onto dry land and evolved
into the open air
our beginnings like all
fresh starts
humble and grateful
for the opportunity to grow
We pray for the gift of music
for the gift of words
for the gift of love
for the gift of human solidarity
for the fragrance of flesh
freely given freely taken
for the imagination
to move forward
leaving the past behind
old lessons learnt
We despise effigies
and make our monuments
from the moment
we despise all that is feigned
that reeks of indifference
and phoney affections
The authenticity of life
demands
that love be genuine
that it should never be betrayed
and that the tongue
should be generous in its praise
of true beauty
and all earthly freedoms
John Lyons
