{"id":1112,"date":"2007-11-26T11:36:14","date_gmt":"2007-11-26T11:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1112"},"modified":"2007-11-26T11:36:14","modified_gmt":"2007-11-26T11:36:14","slug":"a-pair-of-water-poems-by-mark-leech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/a-pair-of-water-poems-by-mark-leech\/","title":{"rendered":"A pair of 'water' poems by Mark Leech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of Water<\/span>

This distance is all flood. A kiss intended<\/span>
might drown a metre short. Let drop a stone<\/span>
upriver where water eases through the bridge,<\/span>
and no ripple can puzzle through to me<\/span>
in Hammersmith. But we will swim dreams.<\/span>
You'll breathe mists all week to cuddle me. I'll<\/span>
be a fleck of rain, a nightlamp on our window<\/span>
so you know I haven't felt the tides<\/span>
withdrawing from uneasy shores. One hand<\/span>
each side of heaven will cup the sun,<\/span>
top the current with our thoughts, light the flow<\/span>
up and down with messages. We swim dreams.<\/span>
You float an egg on the river. It hatches<\/span>
in the kiss I launch upstream, home.<\/span>

 <\/span>

Of Water 2<\/span>
(11.8.07)<\/span>

This loving is all rivers. You may overshoot<\/span>
our landing stage and reach with dripping oars<\/span>
towards the shore, my stretching hands, or<\/span>
in a sudden ebb I\u2019ll sit, slack, surprised,<\/span>
until your forceful push restores<\/span>
the chopping of waves across my bow.<\/span>
Who is the water? Who the bank? We both<\/span>
contain the soft embrace of earth, we both<\/span>
can flow, or surge, or clap against the rocks.<\/span>

When you got into this boat with me, we<\/span>
cut the course we rowed. Since then, we\u2019ve<\/span>
grown to let the current lead us on, taken<\/span>
new cargoes from the reeds. Who is the water?<\/span>
Who the bank? I love this journey to the sea.<\/span>


\u2022 When not being pursued by long-dead poets, Mark thinks about his forthcoming collection \u2013 <\/span>London Water<\/span> \u2013 to be published by Flarestack. <\/span>www.myspace.com\/markleechpoetry<\/a>

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of WaterThis distance is all flood. A kiss intendedmight drown a metre short. Let drop a stoneupriver where water eases through the bridge,and no ripple can puzzle through to mein Hammersmith. But we will swim dreams.You'll breathe mists all week to cuddle me. I'llbe a fleck of rain, a nightlamp on our windowso you know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}