Glenkiln, by Jane Frank

King and Queen, by Henry Moore (UK) cast 1957. Glenkiln Sculpture Park, Scotland. Photo by Sarah Charlesworth. Wikimedia Commons.

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​Glenkiln
 
They took them away 
but the sculptures still stand or recline 
in a stark landscape of memory 
like real people lost
 
I am close to the earth:
            beneath the sky
            there are swells and surges
vales and hollows
 
I remember driving there after an argument,
walking the Covenanters' Road as light snow fell,
opening up to the land ––
a high rugged horizon and 
the fir plantations beyond The Standing Figure
 
I am lost in the interplay 
            between solid and void
            there is the closeness of soil and rock 
the erosion of upheaval 
 
I remember especially that day  
the cold blade of the hills 
like betrayal
 
I can no longer recline
            or find my rhythm 
            have lost the freer 
rounder form of contentment 
 
As I clambered up the hill in first light, 
wet and knees shaking 
not caring that I kept slipping
I found a walled sanctuary of trees 
where sheep were sheltering 
and I stopped
the sun full on my face
 
Holes through what’s solid
            some of them accidental 
            a driftwood of organic patterns 
his wombs wearing helmets 
 
I looked down on the King and Queen –-
white outlined black –-
the cross stark against a pale sky
light pulsing on the dark vein of water
I returned to them later
teetering diagonally down the steep slope
held their icy hands in a last farewell,
 
relied on the feel of stone 
            to find direction

Jane Frank

Jane Frank teaches creative writing and literary studies at Griffith University in south east Queensland, and has qualifications in art history. Her poetry has appeared most recently inNot Very Quiet, Stilts Journal and The Poets’ Republic. It is also forthcoming in Antipodes, Meniscus and anthologies titled Pale Fire: New Writing on the Moon (The Frogmore Press 2019) in celebration of fifty years since the moon landing, and Forty Voices Strong: An Anthology of Contemporary Scottish Poetry (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2019). Find more of her work at https://janefrankpoetry.wordpress.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/JaneFrankPoet/

Editor's Note: The Glenkiln sculpture park was a collection of sculptures bought and displayed by Sir William Keswick between 1951 and 1976, thus realizing his lifelong vision of making the world's first collection of sculpture in a natural setting, the Scottish moorlands. The sculptures included works by Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein and Auguste Rodin. After one of the sculptures was stolen, they were removed from the moors.