South West Poetry Tour #2 – Simon Persighetti & Lucy Linford

The South West Poetry Tour was a 5 day collaborative initiative curated by Camilla Nelson and Steven Fowler in August 2016. The tour consisted of collaborative poetic performances at The Barbara Hepworth Museum (St Ives), The Poly (Falmouth), Schumacher College (Dartington), Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute (Bath) and Hauser & Wirth Somerset (Bruton). In addition to the collaborative efforts of the 6 touring poets – JR Carpenter, John Hall, Matti Spence, Annabel Banks, Camilla Nelson and SJ Fowler – the project featured work by 60 emerging and established poets from across the region. Supported by Arts Council England, The South West Poetry Tour has commissioned over 60 new works as part of its ambition to forge creative links between poets, artists, arts organisations and audiences locally, regionally and nationally. We are delighted to be able to share a small selection of these works through this special South West Poetry Tour edition of The Clearing.

Two Circles and a Square                            Two Circles and a Square

Lifted from the quarry of night

she shapes light from dense atoms of geology

displaced shadows of dolmen

punctuation marks in public spaces

placed upon disguised contours and framed by horizons of present cities

Two Circles and a Square                            Two Circles and a Square

We let it lead

Lassoed by a lead laced arrow

Through a bulls-eye

Held in the grasp of this garden-

a small holding of self-fashioned shrines and memorials

absorbing the vacuum of her own disappearance.

In their presence we sense the ringing of her hammer

striking sparks into our dreams

Two Circles and a Square                            Two Circles and a Square

Cock our necks

Hooked in by a pull of air

Light-thread floss

Trapped in a stone cavity

Tanked in concrete shadow

Exposing raw earth

brief constellations, asterisms or ciphers for a future silence

stumbled upon as sacred configurations in abandoned habitats

upon disguised contours and framed by horizons of lost cities

Two Circles and a Square                            Two Circles and a Square

Land well worn

By the collective eye

Posing petulantly, permanently

We indulge in its exposure

Absently tracing its man-made frame

In the cool blades

That carpet beneath

And flicker

Two Circles and a Square                            Two Circles and a Square

(For Barbara Hepworth Garden by Lucy Linford and Simon Persighetti, 1 August 2016)

Simon Persighetti is a Cornwall-based artist and performance maker who creates and produces projects that explore the interrelationships between people and place. He is also a core member of Wrights & Sites, producing international site-specific works, walking projects and publications. www.mis-guide.com

Lucy Linford is an English and Creative writing student at Falmouth, hoping to do an MA in screenwriting next year.