Embedded Files
The Cæsura
Jeremy Prynne in the Garden
1.
Light rubbed from the watered patch
dulled into the gravel crust
opaque now in low relief microtones
Blossom drifted from a weeping pear
equably light’s cadence
dapples each in equal weight judged
coloured by recurrence:
song new laid to constellate
where all pieces fell
stars have been laid out
contoured to a cluster time furrows
buckling spurring stars to limbs
tied to rock but yet flex
of. to. ah. no. oh.
as from deep space were the forward
catch from one instrument
into the consort Just intonation
of. to. ah. no. oh.
Flow my tears.
Prevenient grace.
Stave may I catch.
Stone rubs to timely sand a balustrade
sun-instinctive sand trickles
fluent blackbird bared fluent cresting
marks division with a chirp of throstle
times pent. Flow bankside willow
weeping cataracts Go solar barge
lightly kempt
of. to. ah. no. oh.
2.
Paddling the caesura string the wake
caesura that’s the moving finger
every break a birth.
Skyey white tiger.
I’d wish you now could see this this
crouch to the fern’s fresh spray
This is the cycad packed with seed
to which stars tend then
thus and thus daunt dismay.
This is the purple royal on the vine
burst forth overnight
that famous briar stars intertwine
catches at the forearm of one
strides across a boundless map
covenants its syllables
still overseeing this this newly furled
event. Each risen fern.
In every brake midges dance
On every bract bees muster
On the brook damselflies glint.
John Wilkinson’s most recent book of poetry is In Abeyance (The Last Books, 2025). He writes: After I wrote to Jeremy Prynne on hearing his Poetry and Language lectures, he supervised my two undergraduate dissertations, on Olson and Shelley respectively. Our correspondence through subsequent years is archived at the Cambridge University Library. I accompanied Jeremy on two visits to Guangzhou in 2005 and 2008. His example and encouragement were and remain essential to my writing life. My poem here is because he loved our garden.
Copyright © 2026 by John Wilkinson, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of Copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
Report abuse