{"id":1167,"date":"2008-02-18T07:48:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T07:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2008-02-18T07:48:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-18T07:48:00","slug":"mark-leech-sees-william-blake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/mark-leech-sees-william-blake\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Leech sees William Blake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Burning in the Fires of Orc<\/span>

 <\/span>
William Blake is stalking me. I wish it was<\/span>
John Clare, but the city works in wheels<\/span>
and puts me down in the prophet\u2019s shadow<\/span>
and night descends in flaming lampshot dark.<\/span>
I find myself at his door, see him sketching<\/span>
Satan, and I\u2019m keen for bed but there\u2019s<\/span>
so much London and Blake turns it<\/span>
turns it his eyes staring out         Poland Street<\/span><\/span>
Fountains Court Leicester Fields Peckham Rye<\/span>
South Molton Street <\/span>       For the angels in the tree<\/span>
for God in Broad Street, I \u2013 but this<\/span>
is his illuminated stretch after me, me<\/span>
escaping what gave him strength,<\/span>
hurrying for the bus. Blake forgive me<\/span>
the spirits are still, I wheel no further<\/span>
than knowing the stops, a pattern for<\/span>
the great peace of transport. Take me from<\/span>
Albion\u2019s complaint: I\u2019m stepping out<\/span>
for light regions, Beulah. Kiss me Will,<\/span>
release me. Here I\u2019m not whole. Let me sleep.<\/span>
 <\/span>
 <\/span>
 <\/span>
South Molton Street<\/span>
 <\/span>
Lips with his name.<\/span>
He holds a match to the window.<\/span>
Beautiful lips.<\/span>
He draws a line for them to cross.<\/span>
He draws steadily.<\/span>
At street level, someone gains access<\/span>
scatters coins<\/span>
brings in photocopiers.<\/span>
He draws<\/span>
himself crawling from the river.<\/span>
Lips in the sand.<\/span>
He has drawn the roads<\/span>
built since he was born.<\/span>
Lips at the window<\/span>
beautiful.<\/span>
There are people in the lamps below<\/span>
passing kisses<\/span>
coffee breath.<\/span>
He holds a match to the window.<\/span>
Lips with his name.<\/span>
 <\/span>
 <\/span>
\u2022 Mark Leech has two chapbooks out, London Water<\/span> from Flarestack Publishing and Saint and City<\/span> from Erbacce Press. “London Water<\/span> is the result of double journeys \u2013 on foot and psychological \u2013 along five of the city's lost rivers, near whose course I lived during various emotional phases of my life in London. All the rivers were at least pastly piped underground and built over during the 19th century. Saint and City<\/span> groups together two sequences and related poems: St Frideswide and the men she blinded walk the roads of modern Oxford; the narrators of ancient Saxon poems speak from city underworlds; legends come true on street corners. Everyday experience meets the unexpected, and their contact provokes passions and apparitions, and intense, adventurous poetry. Both are available by contacting me at www.markleechpoetry.com<\/a> “
<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Burning in the Fires of Orc William Blake is stalking me. I wish it wasJohn Clare, but the city works in wheelsand puts me down in the prophet\u2019s shadowand night descends in flaming lampshot dark.I find myself at his door, see him sketchingSatan, and I\u2019m keen for bed but there\u2019sso much London and Blake turns itturns […]<\/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-1167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167","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=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}