the geometries of mind

Here's a Pentland Hills' inspired poem, by Angus D.H. Ogilvy, taken from his pictured 2022 collection:


Left Lines

In primordial light all lines were liquid, crystal,
glassy cold solidified flows,
welling fissures, fractures, ridges, rifts,
faults and joints, folds, stratified layers,
thrusts, cuts, cleavage, sills and dykes,
striations scored by shifting ice,
watersheds, shadows, tide-lined shores.

Through this grew lifelines,
swirls of plankton, algal blooms, wormholes, tunnels,
reef-lines, treelines, pachyderm pad-paths,
ungulate tramp-trails streaked on green,
man-laid scars of tar and stone,
wakes, rails, contrails, serried rows,
unnatural edges formed to fit the confines
of the geometries of mind.

The line I leave, predictable but indirect,
sometimes side-tracked, indecisive, double-backed,
waylaid by circumstance and fate's default,
circuitous to savour beauty
and delay the mud-churn march
before its ultimate destination
with animal recourse to water and salt.

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Angus D.H. Ogilvy

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