m(w)u(r)d

The word returns to dust. Text to cracked earth.

earth, cracked crust, cracked earth, cracked word, dry text, cracked mud, mud text, mud word.

earth, cracked text, dry crust, mud mind, mud word, mind cracked, word dry, cracked mud.

earth, dry earth, sucked mud, mind sucks, mind mud, sucked earth, text sucks, mud mind.

earth, hallelujah, earth, hallelujah, mud mind earth mind mud, hallelujah!

wateryyyyyy

The Return of the Light-Being

The Light-Being makes his way out. From death to life, confinement to liberation. Light to light. Will he escape the fires of hell? Perhaps some day he will return, all knowledge and memory submerged. Or maybe he will advance, stage by stage, hurdling dimensions like the cosmic athlete, the astral pony. This point of departure comes to us all, sometimes before lunch.

If you see the Light-Being, stop him and gently take his arm. Ask him if he remembers where he's been, if he knows where he's going. He may get shirty and slap your delicate chops with the back of his light-infused hand. Don't get angry. Don't retaliate. Plant a kiss on his face and suck on the light.

Oh Light-Being, Light-Being, where are you? We love you, we miss you! Where on earth will you turn up next . . ?

hill
hallow

field
fallow

marsh
mallow

Click on and zoom out to 50% to best view these text images derived from early minimalist composition and painting, especially Glass, Reich, Rothko. I was interested in repetition and rigid structures both symbolically and visually. The solid blocks of repeated text create the impression of formality and rigour, but this is offset by the subject matter - water, light, flight, love, laughter - and the optical effect created by the patterning, which has a kind of light mesmeric quality. It's an attempt to at once ground and unsettle the viewer.

For example, the columns of "crow wing shine" have a solidity and structure to them (like a formal regiment of crows), but at the same time, the white spaces in between the heavy black text create a dazzling effect on the eye, immediately de-stabilising the rigid columns.

These are taken from a chapbook entitled "The Faithful City", available from:

afterlight at blueyonder dot co dot uk

wo/od
wo/mb
wo/od

An Introduction to the Light-Being

Here he is. He's in all our towns and cities. He's the Limbo Kid, Bardo Boy, the Light-Being. He's our souls in transition, transmission, waiting incarnation. He's who we are in the before and after life.

These signs are the portals, the way in and out. Look out for them. Look out for him. He's you and I in another dimension, carrying the weight of our lives, the hope of our lives. He is pain, bliss, rapture. Let's see what he does next . . .

In the beginning . . .

In the beginning was the Word. Here's a word:

oyal. l

Here's another word:

!oil

And here's a word with some squiggles beneath it:

oil

^^^

^^^