Frances Presley

           
           
           
           
Creswell Crags

                                                                                         for my cousins

what is it about those shapes
           do we follow them with the edge of a finger

her index pointing to the map
this was the moment when he fell in love
                             the certainty of her hand

                          he follows the outline with his spot light and we
are not always convinced

           bas-relief

made by rubbing
with a hard stone
rock      simple
stone      scratches
face      deep

           re           peat

sometimes you have to see it outside in
sometimes you have to see it inside out

they have broken a tree
and stolen the communal wheelbarrow

3 sprmpsd rnng hrs
           ueioe ui oe
reindeer impaled with a spear
bread And dripping

this is a scruffy mane
we know that these horses always had scruffy manes

the way the honey coloured stone
is much lighter when scratched

we cannot see it but they can see it
two birds
           or two breasts
would have to be very lopsided
           well they sometimes are

we have many conventions to mark
the inherent poly           phony of
archaeological activity


we know that there must have been fertility rites
because there are triangles
           what are those metal triangles
they pin back the rock

           BOLD LOVE
between the england flags
traces of red ochre pigment
in the engraved lines

an uprooted plant against the shed door
what is this
           vandalism
the gift of a gooseberry bush

here the gravestones are flat for the already cremated
she supports herself
hand to the small of her back
unbending
above the two black slabs

they do not stand far out from the ground on which they were formed


           deep in
                      the cave
                                 total darkness
                                            a few drawings
                                                       said to be of birds
                                                                  but more recently it is proposed
                                                                  that they represent the female figure

                                 this is also possible
                                 but you would have to turn them upside down


the shape of the beak
                the shape of a thigh


strike the water
                      with breaking
                                    braking
                                            wings










FP 10/9/06




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