21 Jan 2023

Robin
Houghton

New Moon

Feb 5th

Jan 6th

& 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.