Christopher M James
Vanishing Points
.
All nature seems to be pointing
importantly to a supposed prop
………,,,on a remote shelf. An artist
walks the promontories of his eye
into found perspective. Long ago,
the before-Giotto faces and bodies
were layered up emphatically flat
………,,,in an urgent foreground,
exalting reality as heavenly,
the mind assigned so little space.
No lesser artists here: you, me
the carpenter loyal to the grain
………,,,the plumber his gradients,
the train driver’s one straight line, as
he calls to mind his schoolboy love
or stillborn child whose name haunts
………,,,like an abandoned station, from
where they lead day after day, to how –
somehow – they all shall meet up,
bags in hand, at the buffer of infinity.
importantly to a supposed prop
………,,,on a remote shelf. An artist
walks the promontories of his eye
into found perspective. Long ago,
the before-Giotto faces and bodies
were layered up emphatically flat
………,,,in an urgent foreground,
exalting reality as heavenly,
the mind assigned so little space.
No lesser artists here: you, me
the carpenter loyal to the grain
………,,,the plumber his gradients,
the train driver’s one straight line, as
he calls to mind his schoolboy love
or stillborn child whose name haunts
………,,,like an abandoned station, from
where they lead day after day, to how –
somehow – they all shall meet up,
bags in hand, at the buffer of infinity.
.
.
.
Christopher M James, a dual British/French national and retired HR professional, has published in Acumen, Aesthetica, Magma, Orbis, Dream Catcher, London Grip, Poetry Salzburg, IS & T, Best New British and Irish poetry 2019-2021, amongst others. He has been a prize winner in a number of competitions (Sentinel, Hastings, Yeovil, Stroud, Poets meet Politics, Wirral, Buzzwords, …) and has been widely anthologised. He lives in the Dordogne, France and runs the French Online Stanza Group.
.
.
Christopher M James, a dual British/French national and retired HR professional, has published in Acumen, Aesthetica, Magma, Orbis, Dream Catcher, London Grip, Poetry Salzburg, IS & T, Best New British and Irish poetry 2019-2021, amongst others. He has been a prize winner in a number of competitions (Sentinel, Hastings, Yeovil, Stroud, Poets meet Politics, Wirral, Buzzwords, …) and has been widely anthologised. He lives in the Dordogne, France and runs the French Online Stanza Group.
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