{"id":9899,"date":"2013-02-14T08:54:28","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T12:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=9899"},"modified":"2013-02-14T08:54:28","modified_gmt":"2013-02-14T12:54:28","slug":"clayton-eshlemans-british-museum-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/clayton-eshlemans-british-museum-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton Eshleman’s British Museum Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sometime last week I forwarded a review of a current British\u00a0Museum\u00a0exhibition on prehistoric art to Clayton Eshleman. He responded two days ago, saying: “I remembered my little moleskin\u00a0notebook I had with me in London 2007 when at that Museum. I decided to copy\u00a0out my notes on the ancient pieces I scribbed standing before their windows\u00a0one morning…” And with his permission, here they are, for me clearly more than\u00a0fragmentary\u00a0notes, poems in fact:<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 11 APRIL 2007<\/p>\n

     Mammoth Spear Thrower, Montastruc (Pyrenees)<\/i><\/p>\n

Small enough grasped in hand
\nreindeer antler is mammoth
\ntiny in hand to hold it
\nspear aligned \u00a0 \u00a0 throw \u00a0 \u00a0 how
\nmany times before it broke
\nuseless magical tool
\nall that mammoth antler<\/p>\n

eye holes filled with ochre
\na dream of concentrated blood<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

     Perforated Baton, La Madeleine, 13,000 B.C..<\/i><\/p>\n

Hole in reindeer antler
\nWhat is a hole? The soul\u2019s
\nearly escape\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 put your finger
\n                         through<\/p>\n

As if this finger could wear the animal<\/p>\n

How do we know this antler is alive?<\/p>\n

Because a horse is emerging from it,
\nhorse half-buried in antler
\nhorse sleeping in bone
\nhorse and hole
\nhorse\u00a0 is\u00a0 hole?\u00a0 The soul\u2019s
\n   early return
\nheading toward western shibboleth<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

     \u201cThe oldest known art of Wales, 13,000 B.C. Kenanch\u2019s Cave, Llandudno”<\/i> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Dylan Thomas jawbone
\n   incised with zags
\nzigs\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 lightning birdelopes
\nenergy mastered
\n                shovel incisors
\nthis scoop
\n             what\u2019s left of the skull
\nwords of a virgin spring
\nthe spear driven into the heartsick mareloam<\/p>\n

Thomas on the eternal rampart
\nsignaling
\n            blizzard bereft<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

     Disc, 13,000 B.C. Montastruc (Pyrenees)<\/i><\/p>\n

Cut from an animal blade
\nin soft museum light
\nornament\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 urn bitten
\n        notched &
\n         chevroned
\nmicroscopic
\n       tundra scene<\/p>\n

leaf\u00a0 thin thing escape
\n      to wear it\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 in my throat<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

     Wolverine pendant, 13,000 B.C. Les Eyzies<\/i><\/p>\n

Pendant or piece or
\nlightning remains, \u00a0 sift
\n      of a world
\n      orb open to
\nspeared shoulder lifted paw
\n        mote laughing an all
\n        a not\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 shimmering<\/p>\n

   faith in the sun lathe
\n   about which a severed throat is turning<\/p>\n

clenched & dappled
\n      bind<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

     \u201cOldest known work of art from England, 13,000 B.C.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Robin Hood Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire<\/i><\/p>\n

That anything old
\nexists
\nattests to erasure\u2019s
\ndemonic counterpoint.
\nLike this engraved crossed-out horse head
\nfrailer than its anti-strokes
\nah frail head\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 no more than a chip
\n    in the furnace of an owl
\nglinting keen
\n    in life\u2019s indeterminate cannibalizing maw<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

for Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometime last week I forwarded a review of a current British\u00a0Museum\u00a0exhibition on prehistoric art to Clayton Eshleman. He responded two days ago, saying: “I remembered my little moleskin\u00a0notebook I had with me in London...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,95],"tags":[250],"class_list":["post-9899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-prehistoric-art","tag-clayton-eshleman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9899"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9920,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions\/9920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}