The High Path

Thomas A. Clark

    let’s take the high paththat clings to the cliff edge    through the ripe barleypast the corn marigoldstaking up this and that    dropping this or that like a rag or a flag    space flaps in the windfluttering and settling    between scabious    and knapweed the seaflutters lightly away     trust the tangled paththe sea at your elbow    it will lead you throughcomplex informationmeadow-grass and bent-grass    to a fine sea view in among the grasses    are the manifoldspaces little places    where intention is    no longer gatheredbut ramified dispersed     pale comfrey flowerslinger in green spaces    in the tall brackenas if such spaces wereformed by bracken for    pale comfrey flowers melancholy thistle    rest harrow, milk vetchclimb through the long grasses    to add at random    a touch of colourto the drift of colours     the waves are dancingand the light bounces back    into a largeratmosphere or climatethat you move in gladly    in receipt of light over the tall grasses    the blue sky stretchesan unimpeded blue    you can lie back in    crushed grasses and letyour head fill up with blue     swallows swooping lowover the ripe barley    respond as keenlyto the intelligenceas barley to the least    rumour of a breeze barley combed by the wind    ripples with warm lightas if the light were not    given but contained    given out when combedby the light-seeking wind     the waves of the barleythe ripples of the sea    flow in or out fromyour feet as you pass throughthe ripples of the barley    the waves of the sea as a hawthorn will show    the prevailing windin a motionless gust    of whipped-back branches    you take the shape ofwhat you know let it go

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Thomas A. Clark lives in a fishing village on the east coast of Scotland. Four books from Carcanet Press explore the landscapes and culture of the western highlands and islands; The Hundred Thousand Places (2009), Yellow & Blue (2014), Farm by the Shore (2017) and The Threadbare Coat (selected poems 2020). During the summer months, with the artist Laurie Clark, he runs Cairn Gallery, a space for minimal and conceptual art. http://www.cairngallery.space. Watch Thomas A. Clark read from, and discuss, his selected poems, The Threadbare Coat.

cover of The Threadbare Coat

Manchester
England

"With radical simplicity, Thomas A Clark's writing gives us the unfussy beauty of the natural world. There's not much that I ask of poetry that isn't present here."
—Matthew Welton

"The Threadbare Coat is a beautiful production, and an interesting selection. . ."
—Rupert Loydell, Stride Magazine

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