portrait of Sappho

the temple

A small neo-classical building on the Falklands's estate, known as The Temple of Decision, has long been in ruins. The question was, what to do with it, to demolish or restore. A simple inscription on a stone, "Perspective is the temple of decision", restores the building to its function.

The classical reference is maintained in the ruinous state of the building, suggesting some ancient site. The inscribed stone also acts as a bench: anyone who sits on the stone will have a broad perspective out over the landscape.

The same text was installed in a splendid meeting room in Falkland Palace, but here the context changes the content. Rather than an invitation to solitary meditation, the concern now is with reaching a consensus, with rising above the individual point of view.

Thomas A Clark, Falkland Estate, Fife 2018
letters cut by Robert Haas

Cloud Study

Signature in vinyl of John Constable. Attach to
a window and watch the clouds go by.

Thomas A Clark
Moschatel Press 2017

£75

Bacchante

The female followers of Dionysus, god of ecstasy
and intoxication, were tattooed with the image
of a deer.

Temporary tattoo by Thomas A Clark & Laurie Clark

Moschatel Press 2018, £5 plus postage

a gold pin for Gertrude Stein

a gold pin for Gertrude Stein

by Mary Ellen Solt

published by Moschatel Press,     £12 plus postage

cairngallery@gmail.com

wing of the ptarmigan

the well known is not known
it is not known well
there is a tree you have never seen
on the familiar hill



among harebells and buttercups
among daisies and sea asters
the one flower that is never another
among ling and tormentil



confine yourself to colour
to the pure chromatic impression
how colour impinges
how it bleeds at its edge



the moor is an ardour
in ochre and amber
given immediately
to be enjoyed at large



wing of the ptarmigan
(forty eight delays)

Thomas A Clark
Moschatel Press 2018

£10 plus postage

cairngallery@gmail.com

poor poetry

with thanks to Aled Haywood