Exclusive excerpt from “After Francis Bacon”

To celebrate the anniversary its publication, here is an exclusive extract from the poem cycle "After/Apres Francis Bacon" about the life and art of the painter.

I

Surrounded by duns, olives, sages,

grey-browns of trampled paddocks

the alcohol-blue flame of asphyxia

burns with all the vignetting of unconscious

darkening and diffusing the periphery.

Asphyxia choking out the world:

the clatter of hooves on cobbles

the clink of bridal bits

the hare-lipped stable hand laughing equine

all grow fainter,

making you distant

making you alone

making you, then retreating

and the ceiling expands to normality.

Better outside, later lurking near the stables

loitering at the kitchen garden

catching glimpses of grooms

their boots swelling over calves

leather straps held firm

the taut forearm bulging

as the hay bale is hoisted.

There you linger fearfully

anticipating delicious discovery

and subsequent blushing

that creeps upward and down.

Always hasty clouds and threat of rain, stifled

in greenness. Smell of damp tweed, lanolin

and dogs joyous, vigorous as eels,

pushing towards food. Sentinel maids in aprons

shuttle across the courtyard.

On the threshold you are shy,

awkward, eager for experience.

To read the book Alexander Adams, Peggy Pacini (trans.), After/Après Francis Bacon (Golconda Fine Art Books, February 2022, 250 copies first edition, 60pp, 1 col. illus., English/French, 80gsm paper, A5 size, £10 + p&p (UK and worldwide shipping)) visit here: https://www.bournbrookmag.com/books/p/afteraprs-francis-bacon-alexander-adams-2022