Some Omissions, Violette, Light Sensitiv, Birthday, May Day
A suite of poems by Valerie Norris released weekly in November
Download as simple pdf
Watercolour in French textbook by and courtesy of Valerie Norris
Some Omissions
Firstly, you must deal fully
with the seductive mood.
Its contents hesitate industriously,
inviting jokes and knowing
lights. Various other houses
merge and mirror your slow
sorrows, making offerings
of rivers, sage and juniper.
Of secondary importance
is the silence of intimate raunch,
its familiar form splayed
and papery. You can tremble
into its signature scent of damp
leaves and sleepy plastic frills,
stretching into rooms and up
staircases, thirsty and searing.
Listen to the sounds of trees
and livestock, their veins
tripping and hissing with thick
flows of undressed worlds.
Bide your time before sinking
your teeth into yesterday’s sheets,
you may be laden with moss
or mucus at that starry hour.
Valerie Norris is an artist based in Dundee, whose multi-disciplinary practice includes
writing. Her poems and creative writing have been published by MAP Magazine
(2020) and 2HB (2013) and included in projects at Dundee Contemporary Arts
(2015) and The Cooper Gallery (2014). She has written reviews and articles for a-n
The Artists Information Company, this is tomorrow and Axis Web.
IG: @victor_november