Linear

Rising sap.

Liquid iterations of soil
Upwardly mobile
Defy gravity.

In phloem and xylem
The line from earth to heaven
Is drawn.

Other lines
Cross the horizon
A line itself
Contorted by landscape
Placated by sky.

A line of forest
Cross-hatched between
Marks an indistinct edge
Of field and wilderness,
Transects their washed blocks of colour

Fences, lines made of lines,
Run straight, run broken.
Walls bring rock to heel
And shape blocked square houses
Barns and buildings
Connecting, always connecting.

Even in the stones
Striations etched in rock
Prehistory’s worry lines
Scratch an ancient poetry
Like the round earth singing.

Poles and pylons, posts and wires,
Snare everything in a wood and metal net.

The sky is behind it
Complete and blue or deepening grey.
Clouds silver-lined
Bring rain or hope.

The landscape shines

Trees tower over it.

© BH 2013

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Couldn’t resist putting this up after seeing Alison Dunlop’s photos of lines in the earth (made by tyres). Her Earth Lines 1 is the picture above. 

I did this piece as another in my Initialising sequence, back in 2013. It seems fitting though, for some reason, then I saw other lines in my landscape. Agricultural activity didn’t figure. Maybe it was where I was (or wasn't) looking…