Great Regulars: The eye itself is one of her [Martha Kapos'] archetypes,

and its strange appearances and movements have a surreal, Picasso-esque effect. In "Portrait from Memory", "You sit in what remains/of an eye"; and in "The Concise History of Art", an eye, presumably the artist's, "goes barefoot". The most astonishing "eye" is the one that "goes about fast and far-flung" in "Lost in South Devon": "Shining black from last night's rain/your eye walks out abundantly in leaf/along a branch, dwindles/to a narrow stem then disappears/into any tight slit of sky/the green shade lets you through."

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: The fast and far-flung eye

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Though the diction is informal and modern, the rhyme, rhythm and refrain underpinning it seem to me a little like those ancient stones that have endured so long, and may still make strong and beautiful 21st-century walls.

"The Unaccommodated" is from Anne Stevenson's Poems, 1955-2005 (Bloodaxe Books). She has also published with Bloodaxe a critical book, Five Looks at Elizabeth Bishop. Her most recent poetry collection is Stone Milk. Grateful thanks to the publishers and to Anne Stevenson for permission to reproduce "The Unaccommodated".

The Unaccommodated

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Books blog: Poem of the week: The Unaccommodated

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