The Act, Not the Body

For the best possible reading experience, it is recommended that you read this poem on a desktop computer.

Gillian Ayres CBE RA, Antony and Cleopatra (1982), Tate. © Estate of Gillian Ayres RA CBE. Image from the 2019 Tate Exhibition. ©A.Aldred.

Leaping from silent white gallery walls Into clanking magenta and pyrrole orange A lion’s mane counters in diarylide yellow Plunged into subterranean streams of turquoise and viridian

Darting fusions of ghost trail pull Joyful jolts drape over stubby stabs Bold steadfast summits swell   Polar humps and triangular crags pulsate

Warmth clutches you firmly by the shoulders Each colour has its own lane, and holds its own well But who’s who here? Of those ill-fated lovers Or is this their essence mapped?

With her punchy painterly deed Fill yourself up.

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Aimee Blackledge ©2023

Published in Facing the Fire, 2023.