Art class, John Lyons
A crowd
a fullness
and an emptiness
tightly pressed
together and yet
so far apart
each one mysteriously
transparent
open-mouthed
expectant
perhaps each hoping
to trade in
their inner 5th Avenue
their fragility
their soulful aloneness
for some firm
intimate connection
one with another
John Lyons
Reposted to correct layout
What painting teaches us
that things can go wrong
that things can be put right
give it time – drying time
pay attention and listen
to what the canvas has to say
don’t be afraid to experiment
try out fresh colours or add
a few extra lines here and there
the medium has its own eloquence
try to see what is there to see
hiding in plain sight or
behind the closed door
think of it as furniture
that may be turned around
in room so that everything
eventually comes together
try to think inside and
outside of the frame
and never admit defeat
John Lyons
Sonata, John Lyons (40 x 40 cm, oil on canvas)
The painting is the puzzle
the painting is the journey
the painting is the gateway
a way in and a way out
the painting is a process
inchoate incomplete
perhaps never to be
finitely finished but simply
jettisoned out through the door
and into the outer world
John Lyons
Inferno, John Lyons (paper collage)
Let’s describe this
as a cauldron of colour
light and energy
bubbling away
soft pinks and blood reds
with dark clouds
gathering at the rear
the ragged edges
of torn paper laid
on a bed of white card
one day collaged
upon another and so
the picture builds up
could be a fiery heaven
or an icy hell
a state of mind
or simply an outburst
of activity
But where
you may ask
are the people ?
where is there
anything familiar ?
it’s all feeling
but feeling for what ?
a life consumed
as a smokeless fuel
moments of anger
moments of passion
arterial moments of love
John Lyons
The lie of the land, John Lyons (9 x 13 cm collage)
This is what it’s like
to be caught
in the warp and weft
of being
the fabric of our existence
We have needs
beyond our means
dreams that may be
dashed
and we fear above all
the loss of love
Our lives are filled
with equipment and devices –
so many things we no longer
know how to do for ourselves
our homes have become
territories which we guard
with our lives
we have become investments
and pander to so many idols
blinding ourselves
to the work of angels
who move constantly among us
Perfection is there
in the webs of spiders
in nature’s silk
in the beauty of roses
or the soaring flight
of sparrowhawks
But there are no vacancies
in the natural world
and none need apply
creation has its work to do
its solar systems to build
while we are tasked
with something quite simple
merely to love and
to allow ourselves
to be loved
John Lyons
Gateway to love, John Lyons (40 x 40 cm, oil on canvas)
Sometimes the best poetry
for the moment is composed
of silence : just as sparrows
do not sing all day long
a pause a respite a lull
is always welcome
rather than
a glut or an excess
Broad margins
of white space
a huge empty sky
blue by all accounts
waves of transparent air
shifting imperceptibly
a kind of nothingness
of fulfilment
What I want to tell you
is. . .
but it can wait
just allow me to be
the one beside you
basking in your beauty
loving you wordlessly without
so much as a sigh
John Lyons
There is no aim
to clean cut flowers –
to be frank they are
an unnecessary need
We place them
upon pedestals
we water them
with affection
we say we love them
we admire them
from all angles
they centre our rooms
and light up the hours
of our lives that are
themselves mere petals : and
when their stems droop
and their blooms
fall apart we mourn
their passing just as
we mourn the passing
of our loves and all things that
must necessarily pass
John Lyons
Adjustment, John Lyons (40 x 40 cm, oil on canvas)
These birds too
know that it’s September
they also have their calendars
and live from season to season
acting in accordance
with the earth’s mood
They see the leaves falling
they see dew on the grass
at first light and they observe
the behaviour of squirrels
harvesting for the winter ahead
and they sense
in the silence in the skies
as summer visitors depart
to warmer climes
that life will shortly form
a tighter fist
and that some but not all
will soon struggle to survive –
they know more than we know
John Lyons
Edited from earlier today
Like nothing else
that feeling
on a Sunday morning
listening to your breath
as you lie asleep
waiting patiently
for you to wake
into our day
John Lyons
From this distance in time
that rearward vision
as life unravels
leaf after autumn leaf
falling through the drizzle
all those moments captured
in wordy recollections
the winnowing wind
of memory
me picking my way
through the text
of my past
Where would I be
without those words
when love was in flames
A world unwoven
only to be threaded
together again
poetry to exalt
the present and the real
built on the bridge
of what went before
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 