Lovers, John Lyons (50 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
An aerial view
of the lie
of the land
lovers locking
into a kiss
a port of call
a docking
one delicately
poised above
another
a passage
through time
a navigation
of narrow straits
John Lyons
art
Forever in my life
Rainfall, John Lyons (70 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
The rain perhaps
the rain as it used to rain
in my childhood
slow steady rain
an ablution of the earth
the damp air heavy
with the scent of soil
The rain perhaps
tiny droplets of memory
falling through the universe
and my mind wanders
to far forgotten places
and the faces
that I knew there
The rain perhaps
when we first built a shelter
and called it love
and we huddled there
together tightly and listened
to the rain and wind
and were content
The rain perhaps
that is neither a beginning
nor an end in itself
as though I had
always known you
always wanted you
forever in my life
John Lyons
Fit for poetry
Flowers, John Lyons (oil on wood)
Dagwood dogwood
whipple-tree
these are but names
conferred over time
We know it by its fruit
by its berries
by its blossom
by its simple
untoothed leaves
The larvae of butterflies
and the engrailed
and emperor moths
feed on it
quail devour its red seeds
a tea made from its bark
can treat pain and fevers
From dogwood
to dogberries
to skull tree
these are but words
fit for poetry
John Lyons
Green pastures
Landshape 2, John Lyons (70 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
A painter poet
struggles to convey
the lie of the land
in which certain shapes
dominate and others
are pushed
into the background
I know that I have been here
but can’t remember when
I have dreamt of snow
on the hills and triangles
that rose up beyond the lakes
I have walked for miles
as I slept and passed
through so many doors
What I searched for
was breath and pulse
a warmth and a gentleness
a softness of being
a firmness of ground
beneath my feet
green pastures
John Lyons
The canvas fights back
The correction, John Lyons (70 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
It’s not quite a marriage
but certainly a relationship
and sometimes the canvas
has attitude and fights back
and there’s a tussle
as to who knows best
it’s all about the shapes
and colours applied
Don’t forget it says
I have to live with
whatever you throw
in my face whereas
you can just walk out
abandon me
to my own devices
pick up somewhere else
Of course there are
always corrections
minor or major adjustments
that need to be made
a rescue mission of sorts
in a bid to save face
there’s an art to it
and sometimes it succeeds
and sometimes it fails
just like love so get over it
John Lyons
Mayflower
Mayflower, John Lyons (oil on wood)
Virginal flower
for the month of May
the pilgrim flower
that sails through
our days our lives
the simplicity and purity
the blue of innocence
the incandescent candour
of petals that will
like us all
one day
fall
eternal cycle rising
out of the earth
only to return
to its place of birth
mineral resurrection
driven by the powers
of creation
beauty in the eye
and in the heart
undying love
John Lyons
Perplexed landshape
Landshape, John Lyons (70 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
There are elements here
that may or may not
pertain to a landscape
The canvas itself is struggling
to know where it’s headed
though some of the shapes
are clearly defined
The sky’s a basin inverted
over time and distance
and there are doors and paths
behind which the unknown
skulks carefully secluded
Of course the composition’s
not finished — may well
never be finished
it all depends on finding
a happy resolution
John Lyons
Revised from yesterday’s version
Landscape with shapes
Landscape with shapes, John Lyons (70 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
This is the size of it
a glowing landscape with shapes
a visual puzzle that defies
the eye’s expectations
Truly the colours have been
distorted by the digital lens
and yet there is peace
and there is silence
you feel that life could lay down
another layer or take a different
approach or simply return
to the drawing board
What lies beneath the surface
and how could anyone call it art
a canvas so full of nowhereness
a composition aching to coalesce
John Lyons
To the sweet blueness
To the sweet blueness
of a cloudless summer sky
in which red tulips
raise their chalices
in a cheery toast
to avid lips
as a stray spider
wanders aimlessly
across the dry surface
of my almost completed
canvas – strange world
to it it must seem
as a visitor scratches
his head wondering
why on earth he entered
the outdated world
of modern art
John Lyons
Air is the medium
Air dance, John Lyons (50 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)
Measured movements
the body shifting
in time and space
think of the gravity
think of the rhythm
think of the journey
the steps taken
the ground covered
in leaps and bounds
choreographed air
dance of sunshine
under moon and stars
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 