Fiona Templeton
The First Banishment
from Neither Out Nor In
a wild day
and all the skies at once
weather
lays its hands on me
tilting me
gripping
on a ferry facing front
blown inside and out
his mouth made small
by short breath
an old sheepskin coat
his cap covers
whether the pain
is where he’s leaving
or where he’s going
drops close my eyes
drooping with distance
the water
shifts
green
shifts like weeds
shifts like his hair
under it
knocking in
to dock
another house
another face
I see where I’m not
I see the hand
holding me to the shore
I cross
dead man below
the living above
no different
red berries
seam the cracks
From The Blue – Scene 23 (Speaker A)
such clouds
that say
blue sky
such a small word
such pulling
that says
from various parts of my body
and from where in my body
I feel them
and think them and know them
such a shaft of colour
that reminds me
not the blue of sky
but others
of cold lips
or swollen lips
the fact that hair keeps growing
cyanotic interference
runs lips dry
with blowing
with who
with where
intercession
girl into a room
versions of myself
stand around
one looks out of the window
one has a hand on the table
I’ve been here before
and how questioningly
I turn to me
sitting down
and yet I know
the others
pay no obvious attention
and though I don’t see their faces
it wouldn’t make a difference
except that this way I see them
as I see out of myself
except from myself who looks at me
and is me
and I’m not sure what I see
on the face I look out of
I too sit down
I’m welcome
the long shafts of evening
withdraw from the corners
and our gazes
that is, the directions of our heads
draw to the blue window
some only for a moment
letting it fall
on their profiles
their hair
on a hand
sweet talk up
excess
but calm
and I must go
threatening
at the window
there’s only the window
mesmerizing
bleaching colour
and I must go in
turn
hold a hand
turn
close
turn
into the unfascinating night
From The Blue – Scene 24 (speaker B)
what’s at stake play
all little misses
and all the mornings after
gulls and bells
and burnmedown
in a theatre of clamor
all up
and I’m circling
at the bottom
in the turning
of the outside
trombone thunderstorm
torpedo
what’m I
circling upon
left outside
take this
it’s all I
could cover with one hand
biting into
the century
as the one knot I am
and drips
with cream or cosmetic
blood
as all
language
is not naming
but is all naming violence
dying diving
out of clarity
and the gulls
clear without naming
red on their beaks
Fiona
Templeton is a poet and director. She lives in New York but spends a lot of
time in Scotland where she was born and grew up. Her books include The
Medead, Cells of Release and You-The City, all published by
Roof; Elements of Performance Art published by Raven Row, and London from Sun & Moon Press. She
co-founded the Theatre of Mistakes in London in the 1970s, and is Artistic
Director of The Relationship in New York. Fiona has received Fellowships from
the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, the
Asian Cultural Council, and the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard, as well as
multiple theatre commissions internationally. Her poetry often uses oral
methods of composition, and she has long been interested in the female voice.
In addition to multiple voices and languages, her performance work particularly
considers space and the audience. She is working on a Scottish/Japanese
diptych.