Reparations, John Lyons (40 x 40 cm, oil on canvas)

This then is life
       a canvas gone astray
in which the colours
       simply did not work
an abstract landscape
       buried beneath
buff titanium
       just the edges remaining
a few outlines
       to facilitate
a reconstruction
       the right tone of pink
a warmer shade of blue
       and a mingling of green
upon yellow yellow
       upon green

Art is not necessarily
       a one-day event
it can be expeditionary
       a reconnaissance
of unknown terrains
       best to leave markers
in case steps need
       to be retraced

This then is love
       in which feelings
congregate and one
       explores another
and confidences
       are exchanged
and it all begins
       to resemble the way
we pictured it
       in our hearts

John Lyons

        Eden – a work in progress, John Lyons (40 x 40 cm, oil on canvas)

Here is land
       laid on canvas
an Eden
       of the imagination
out of which
       two rivers flow

Shapes formed
       from strokes
of the brush
       using colours
out of the earth
       here is light
and time
       to contemplate

the distance
       we have come
since our birth
       all that we have seen
all that we have felt
       all that we have been

The oils have yet to dry
       and when they do
some will be toned down
       others will be intensified
here is Eden
       a work in progress
like us all
       all who love

John Lyons

               On black, John Lyons (10 x 12 in, oil on canvas)

Out of the darkness
comes a cascade
of colour
of light
of love

here where words
flow in streams
all the energy
of the universe
finds expression
art with its visual
voice and poetry
with its glowing 
sequences of breath

heat and passion
a knife taken
to the cold canvas
out of it comes faith
and the hope too
that our lives
may be worth
remembering
forever

John Lyons