THOMAS A CLARK ~

LAURIE & THOMAS A. CLARK ~

The other day — here is what flew in

like birds from Scotland ~

all titles by Thomas A. Clark

illustrated by

Laurie Clark ~

treasures.

  

AVANT - FOLK ~

Avant-Folk: Publishing in the Vernacular
dreamt up and real by Ross Hair


Thomas A. Clark
Simon Cutts
Ian Hamilton Finlay
Lorine Niedecker
Erica Van Horn
Jonathan Williams


Published by the UEA Publishing Project
for the exhibition at theSmall Publishers Fair
Conway Hall, London
4-5 November 2016


Cover: IAN HAMILTON FINLAY Christmas gift, 2001

THOMAS A. CLARK ~

Tom and Laurie Clark at Woodwick House

photo : © Alistair Peebles

you will have to go

all around it

to see it



have to stay

with it

to know it









a breeze

of small birds

moving through

birch leaves









a stone from shade

carried for a mile

cool in the hand









a breath is enough

to fan the ripples

of water that run

deliciously in

around dwarf juniper









slopes of sunlight

slopes of snow

sit together

above the scree

innocent

of incident









what you feel

you can contain

what you see

you will become









one song of water

picking up

from another



the slopes

constantly

spilling water


as you climb

it pours

around you


rushing, dashing

leaping to find

its level









whatever is lifted

by the wind is dropped

again into a calm

slightly ahead of itself









if you stretch out

in the long grasses

your weight is distributed

over the headland

to rest as lightly

on the crushed grasses

as sky on sea









once again

for the first time

morning








 


T H O M A S   A.   C L A R K




__________________________

selected from
The Hundred Thousand Places
Carcanet  2009



Thomas A. Clark lives in the small fishing village of Pittenweem
on the east coast of Scotland.



http://northings.com/2009/09/29/yellow-and-blue-thomas-a-clark-laurie-clark-porteous-brae-gallery-stromness-orkney/

THOMAS A. CLARK

The Hundred Thousand Places (Carcanet Press, UK)

Thomas A Clark lives with his wife, the artist Laurie Clark, in the small fishing village of Pittenweem on the east coast of Scotland. His latest collection is a single poem, though I would submit it is a single poem gathered by almost 90 pitch perfect smaller poems all going in the same direction toward the earth. Tom's poems have the uncanny ability to show us the light of day and the light of ourselves all at once. Timeless.

once again

for the first time

morning

.

if you stretch out

in the long grasses

your weight is distributed

over the headland

to rest as lightly

on the crushed grasses

as sky on sea

.

what you feel

you can contain

what you see

you will become

.

all the little knots

of anxiety and tension

slowly unravelling

of affection and disaffection

slowly unravelling

the dried grasses trembling

if you move

lightly

events will start

up from your feet

.

a stone from shade

carried for a mile

cool in the hand

.

birch sapling curving

slightly twisting

out from the slope

rising and turning

in what might

be called a gesture

if a gesture can be

prolonged indefinitely

.

a breeze

of small birds

moving through

birch leaves

.

you will have to go

all round it

to see it

have to stay

with it

to know it