HEADING NORTH
i love you more than a tree full of frogs or
a bursting creek, because you hear loud ants
the scrape of shaving and the sea
making love with rocks.
you leave rainforests where you walk –
parrots and pythons, intricate orchids
slipping from your freckled shoulders
like embroidered gowns.
you don't stop when it stops.
i'm axle to your wheel: careering magpies,
mottled doves, quick flapping away
from the first car for hours
ON PHOTOGRAPHY
Veil's and illusions'
reverie. She has dreamed
herself here
for the photograph
to take itself
like an actor is, a sparkler,
illuminating souls.
the literal and the transcendental
working together –
the quality of daring
amplifying the decisive moment
swelling light
the window changing as you move.
the constant ability
to be surprised –
just watching
the discovered forms
light: tonality: frame
to reveal and amplify
the breaking of even space
selection: observation: isolation
the juxtaposition of wonder –
the rainbow in black & white –
you don't expose pictures
you expose yourself
Bia. Photograph copyright Robert McFarlane 1978
On Photography starts as an ekphrasis on Robert McFarlane's photograph 'Bia', and utilises phrases from conversations between poet and photographer, reaching for definitives.
Cover of UQP edition 1986. Artwork by Neil Taylor.
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