THE ICE BOOK OF CHINA

after Xu Bing

Bees rise from fragrant grasses

Patterns repeat on terraced ground

lines repeat   lines   echo   lines

Character of tree or rock found

in character for tree or rock

Rivers flow – wide as grassy fields

through fields of lines

Mountain sheep climb Chinese rock –

flow down grassy hillsides

Rock   tree   mountain turn to lines on paper

Plots thicken with life – grain   rice

maize   potatoes   cabbages

North   south   west   east

tadpoles flow through fields

or flock as tadpoles to the sun

Rock   tree   mountain

turn to lines on paper

Terraced ground repeats patterns

paper lines turn to paper

Squares   not square for every plot

maize   bamboo   fields of rice

watered   tended by workers

not yet come from black wood to open space

Character of tree   rock   water

in character for tree   rock   water

Bees rise from fragrant grasses

Apricot leaves say apricot tree

water flows water   rock says I am rock

Sarianne Durie is an artist who works mainly in stained glass, but who has more recently turned her hand to writing. Her poems can be found in the Albion Beatnik publication and you can see more of her stained glass work here: http://www.captured-light.co.uk/