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21 Jan 2023
Robin
Houghton
New Moon
& we were shot
down with rain
After David Hockney’s
The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020
(No. 346, May 22nd)
each drop long & direct as a streak
of milk from an udder or stroke
of a pen making points all around
needling our heads & the pond
exploded with rings each line
hit its target then the next then the
next we smiled at the noise
drenched in applause & wet
punctured our clothing & clouds
relieved themselves returning
water to water now picture it
backwards: concentric circles
crammed in a pond each centre
the centre of an upwards shaft
or a stalagmite a maypole maybe
a finger-post showing us where
to direct our gaze & give praise
or blame & blame & blame if we dare
Behind the poem...
The inspiration for this poem was created on an iPad by iconic British artist David Hockney: part of a series of 116 images under the title, The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020. I went to the exhibition of these images at the Royal Academy, where the vivid colours and many versions of the same subjects – familiar trees and views, a farmhouse, a treehouse – had an overwhelming effect on me I found hard to rationalise. Image 110 (numbered 346) of rain hitting a pond’s surface stood out for me. It reminded me of Dante’s concentric circles in water at the start of Paradiso 14. I wanted to bring into my poem the inevitability of nature; create a sense of community, of shared experience; make this an ambiguous take on spirituality.