{"id":7822,"date":"2022-12-01T13:12:14","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T13:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/?p=7822"},"modified":"2025-05-13T07:55:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T07:55:23","slug":"gavin-selerie-marks-outside-the-spa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/7822\/gavin-selerie-marks-outside-the-spa\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Selerie: Marks Outside the Spa"},"content":{"rendered":"

i.m. Chris Torrance<\/em><\/p>\n

A woman with a baby between her legs
\ncovered with red ochre\u2014
\nanointment deep in forest shade<\/p>\n

where a meteor might have crashed,
\nmildew on emulsion<\/p>\n

Two roe deer antlers point up
\nfrom her head
\na furry helmet with teeth dangling over eyes<\/p>\n

as if she were the landscape<\/p>\n

Curved bones frame her face
\nleaving the mouth open to chant or scream<\/p>\n

Below the neck
\na necklace\u2014bones and teeth of a bison or boar\u2014
\nstretches<\/p>\n

It can\u2019t be graphed, it stares out from what
\ntravelled between worlds<\/p>\n

the animal mother
\ndismembered and put back whole
\nthrough sweat and herbs<\/p>\n

Numbness, itching, to get secrets
\nfrom an ancestor<\/p>\n

the gift in shock<\/p>\n

To faint, to see double, to throw limbs
\nand vent noises in foam<\/p>\n

To control weather, tell the future and heal the sick
\nacting the like over power disordered<\/p>\n

a mottled zone, a body pummelled in bloody surf<\/p>\n

Not your fairy-story heroine
\nwith stolen shoes and stockings<\/p>\n

but after afraid in rings of smoke<\/p>\n

A pit dancer with locked syllables, the current
\nbetween roots
\nnameless in foretime<\/p>\n

yields a veiny sack-print,
\nthreads of feeling, ferns and fungi in the outer air<\/p>\n

All our share in now, swaddling to release
\nby jolted breath what lurked in loam\u2014
\na dare or forced need<\/p>\n

still a hoard in hoary holt, if carried from base
\nfor show within glass<\/p>\n

The drummelled parkland waits
\nvelvet between nipple and navel,
\nkeeps an echo in children\u2019s cries<\/p>\n

blazing with posthumous light
\nyes, o yes, o yes\u2014longways as many as will<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gavin Selerie was born in London, where he still lives. Books include Azimuth<\/em> (1984), Roxy<\/em> (1996), Le Fanu\u2019s Ghost<\/em>(2006) and Hariot Double<\/em> (2016)\u2014all long sequences with linked units. Music\u2019s Duel: New and Selected Poems 1972-2008<\/em> was published in 2009 and Collected Sonnets<\/em> in 2019 (both from Shearsman). These texts often have a concrete aspect, as discussed in the essay \u2018Ekphrasis and Beyond: Visual Art in Poetry\u2019 (Junction Box<\/em> 2). Selerie is known particularly for poems about landscape and romantic love, utilizing traditional and experimental form. His texts layer and loop aspects of history, with a strong vocal dynamic. A related essay, \u2018Long Haul Voices: The Book Length Poem\u2019, was published in Long Poem Magazine<\/em> 25 (Spring 2021). An elegy for John James, \u2018Questions Present\u2019, appeared in Collected Sonnets<\/em>. The present poem for Chris Torrance reflects his interest in ancient sites and ritual procedures. A letter from Chris (5.7.1985), discussing Azimuth<\/em> and Puzzle Canon<\/em>, with plans for teaching some of these texts at Cardiff, is included in the correspondence section of the Selerie archive at Lincoln College, Oxford. A book-length interview, Into the Labyrinth<\/em>, is available online at https:\/\/www.argotistonline.co.uk\u00a0\u203a INTO THE LA…<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click here to go back to:\u00a0Contributors and Links to Pages 1 – 4<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

i.m. Chris Torrance A woman with a baby between her legs covered with red ochre\u2014 anointment deep in forest shade where a meteor might have crashed, mildew on emulsion Two roe deer antlers point up from her head a furry helmet with teeth dangling over eyes as if she were the landscape Curved bones frame […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[66,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/images.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42xiC-22a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7822"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8348,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7822\/revisions\/8348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}