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Thursday 26 November 2009

View with Beach and Piers



.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/%27View_from_the_Dunes_with_Beach_and_Piers%2C_Domburg%27%2C_oil_and_pencil_on_cardboard_painting_by_Mondrian%2C_1909%2C_Museum_of_Modern_Art%2C_%28New_York_City%29.jpg


View from the Dunes with Beach and Piers, Domburg: Piet Mondrian, 1909 (Museum of Modern Art, New York)






With Bob and Joanne then, rounding
the cliffs from Wharf Road

to the beach one idle late summer
afternoon, as if time were endless,

sitting down then to rest
as if at home, at water’s


edge, the seabirds swooping,

the beach empty, the talk lapping,
inconsequential, nothing brings

consequence, all happens, all this
sweet nothing. The moments flood back,

a blurring tide, and then withdraw

again into the ever
accumulating pool of ebbing

attentions, lost hopes, forgotten so
called dreams. No longer here to live,

simply to snatch another breath.
Three sat talking on the beach, one


doesn’t know what was meant,

one doesn’t know what was
said. But the faces, the voices

come for a moment clear. There, in
that light. Here. The tide incoming.

So it was then as the sun went down.







for Robert Creeley (1926-2005)

6 comments:

Bob Arnold / Longhouse said...

"But the faces, the voices
come for a moment clear."

And they always will in such good hands, Tom.

Thanks and a giving — today and everyday — to you both and all furry critters.

This Mondrian is quite nice old beaches everywhere.

TC said...

Thanks, Bob. Odd how the clear bits pop up out of the long muzzy passages. The latter inexorably gaining on the former, but still.

All gifts of the night and thanks of the stars to you and your breathers.

Yes, I love the idea of Mondrian at the beach. With Bob. And Bob.

Harlequin said...

this is a tender tribute... and the image is quite lovely.

Anonymous said...

remembering a teacher

active reflection
of water stars off
the niagara
observes
informs
involves

Anonymous said...

reminds one of 3 on a pebble beach, 13 VIII 70
Creeleys students, Don & Pat Murphy McClelland, & my good self
'Waiting for Tom Clark'
write on

Dan Rowe
rodanrowe@yahoo

TC said...

Lovely to be hearing from the gentle generations of RC rememberers.

The moment I've recalled here puts me in mind of this of his:


Water Music

The words are a beautiful music.
The words bounce like in water.

Water music,
loud in the clearing

off the boats,
birds, leaves.

They look for a place
to sit and eat--

no meaning,
no point.