Three STEMS
Rowan EVANS

^1.

^T^{HERE IS THE CULTURE OF GESTURES}
^{O erasure, cloud hackle}
^{forced over head. Is it}
^{valid to be temporary}
     ^{in a drop, carving}
^{sound from here.}
^Who^{says ‘opal green’}
^still^{hating so many?}
^{EFFIGIES YARDS HIGH, SUDDEN CHANGES OF LIGHT}
^Total^{non-engagement}
^now^{not possible, and}
^how^{to write. Beauty is}
^a^{warrant for constriction}
^and^{word ‘ours’. White}
^gravel^{, little rabbit bone,}
^the^{sun today is shattering.}
^MODULATIONS^{OF TENSION, LEVEL BY LEVEL}
^Into^{damaged fields}
^before^{acquaintance we are}
^{directly aware, in the}
^hour^{of vision. A blast}
^steals^{the light and dark}
^pattern^{of a bank in}
   ^this^{refulgent summer.}
^ARRESTED^{IN FLIGHT AT SOME POINT}
^Our^{cities with glowing}
     ^hand^{kept safe, no rain

that’s nice. Heat delivered}
^rapidly^{to surrounding areas,}
^transparent^garments.
     ^So^{far as experience extends}
^there^{are no exceptions.}
^A^{SERIES OF COMPRESSIONS, SCENIC FRICTIONS}
^Shudder^{in the next room}
^as^{if this could make peace}
^comissioned^{by the blaze.}
^On^{foot and noun-heavy

they are lit this afternoon,}
^interminable^{. At corners}
^pillars^{stand gold, empty.}
^OTHER^{SIMPLE DIRECT MOVEMENTS}

^2.

^{First appeal of linkages

signed onto absence

where

bright-lit

flower in lowland purely

human & now haunted

revolves

each way.

Errors are frequent &

embedded in the idiom

serve to

account

for periods of activity

pro-rosea, stalks of red

become

glad mesh.

Limbs falter on clearest

channels (one word won’t)

car of

amaryllis

that machine translation

striking anti-pose with

arms or

embers.

Project to fall from,

heavenly disc is useless

hung in

view &

fronds from the white

stone make no allowance,

the cast

basilica.}

3.

(i)

From rail it makes rail
An invariant language

Century tenderness until ridge
the help examined

A-

long

Nightingale glanced universe
as gas energy

Sunlight uncertain to Nightingale-
light, its glanced halting the

(ii)

bill in limbs!
glass hooks talk

spirit-cars
unlike positions

(iii)

Midway and come headlights.
Indefinite needs

Rocks are everywhere in the world
and if you find one please let me have it

(iv)

stuck here in a ’mobile
with a species of motion
alpine machines to
upper sky dross
no false shrine
cirm cirm
purple haze
all in my brain

Notes

_{‘Stems’ is an ongoing sequence that seeks a point at which found text, quotation and personally motivated writing become muddied by one another. The poems bear some relation to the collage-form of the cento, and to the procedural ‘Asymmetry’ poems of Jackson MacLow, but also follow lyrics by Denise Riley, Allen Fisher and Tom Raworth where multiple borrowed or assumed dictions become heavily compounded. Major sources for these poems are listed below; in addition, each also contains material repurposed from my notebooks, abandoned poem docs and phone notes.}

1.

_{The lines in capitals are phrases from Antonin Artaud’s The Theatre and its Double (1938), translated by Mary Caroline Richards (Grove Press, 1994); some further words and phrases are from Isaac Asimov’s Robot Visions (Roc Books, 1990). This poem was written at the time of the 2016 EU Referendum.}

_{Words and phrases are quoted from Ezra Pound, The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius (Harvard University Press, 1954) and Ernest Fenollosa and Ezra Pound, The Classic Noh Theatre of Japan (New Directions, 1959)}.

_{This sequence uses processed text from several poems and remembered conversations, as well as misheard lyrics by Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. “Cirm cirm” was an Anglo-Saxon onomatopoeic transcription of the goldfinch’s song, thought to be an origin of the modern collective noun ‘a charm.’}

_{Rowan EVANS is a poet, composer and sound artist who studied at Cambridge University and is the author of freak red (Projective Industries, 2015), cante jondo mixtape (If a Leaf Falls Press, 2017), ODE RHIZOME MOUNTAIN SONG (Moot Press, 2016) and returnsongs (Wide Range, 2012). He received an Eric Gregory Award in 2015 and a selection of his work appears in Penguin Modern Poets 7: These Hard and Shining Things (Penguin, 2018) with Geoffrey Hill and Toby Martinez de las Rivas. Rowan is co-editor of Moot Press, where he co-curates the Anathema reading series, and artistic co-director of the interdisciplinary performance company Fen. Rowan begins practice-based PhD research into modern poetry and ancient language at Royal Holloway this Autumn.}

Three STEMS Rowan EVANS

1.

2.

3.

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

Three STEMS
Rowan EVANS

^1.

^2.