Frances-Ann Norton: Poetry

Dream Poem 82: Clothes Mountain In Ikea but it’s a megastore, even bigger Looking at lampshades and glass vases There is a swimming pool with different levels Kids are swimming I can see through the shop window down into the pool area There are escalators and I find I have stored many clothes there There is a cupboard and crates of clothes I start going through them seeing which ones I want and don’t want which ones fit and there are so many I haven’t looked in for years after looking at a few I decide to take them home with me and clear out the whole lot, move it all home I try to remember where I have parked the car and I see there is a wardrobe, cupboard and draws full of clothes and I think Here we go again Moving more stuff And I realise I have clothes at another location too and that will needs clearing too.  (plate by F. Norton, called 'Bless This House)

Dream Poem 96: Trousers At the corner of a street at night in a closed shop doorway. It has been a Christmas party and our small group composed of The hippy, the ballerina, the tiny enthusiast and the photographer. The round bouncer on the door of the Club has told us “he’s not coming in wearing jeans” We maintained that his presence is necessary to our happiness. It is decided the ballerina and the photographer will swap trousers. He takes off his trousers So she can put them on. This suits them both very well. We are admitted through the dark, smokey doorway.

Dream Poem 94: Clever Artists Here is a massive famous Art Museum. Some artists break in the dead of night and take a painting. They use the famous old and venerable painting to make a new one. They break back in the next night And rehang it back in its usual place in the gallery. They wait for it to open. And watch for the public and the curators to see how clever they were. (image, Cardinal Sin, by Banksy, Liverpool Museum.)

Dream Poem 94: Liquid Mud I open my mouth to scream. And it is choked up with liquid mud. It fills my mouth and throat, gagging me, stifling my cry.

Dream Poem 86: The Capturers Choosing coloured pencils from the library shop at college to use with students on a trip to a museum. The pencils are non-uniform very dirty  but the pigment in them is very good. We go out, myself and the students to the museum another group is there, they are dangerous. They capture victims to hurt them. We try and escape by hiding in a room in a tiny shop. We are gathering so we can go out in the street together Playing music and singing. But the capturers are coming  and we hide in a room. A man and woman are already hiding when I try and squeeze in with them. A handsome man in a shirt decides to brave it on the street. Slips out of the door and mingles with the crowd He is successful And returns later dressed as a woman.

Dream poem 84: Long Dress and a Sword Two teams of us On both sides of the hall To take games The game was to take on a new personality And act out that personality I was in love with someone on the opposite side In every game they were on the opposite side I tried to explain this to them one day but it was wasted words We were never meant to be. Fighting a battle Long dress and a sword I always win but I wonder if I will win this time and why me? A grandma and baby are at the play ground Grandma injures her neck and I hold the baby and go to ring an ambulance. I don’t want to dial the number so I get someone else to do it the baby is tiny And starts rooting at my breast and crying. But I tell it “I’ve no milk anymore” Meanwhile the grandma who should be lying flat is playing on the park. I’m opponents with another kingdom Although I’ve won many times before With my long dress and sword I wonder if I will win thi...

Dream Poem 91: Not Worth Pursuing An office of glass and concrete It’s a bank. There is some funny business going on – a scam A suitcase of money is handed over for investment but it is an inside job which is discovered at the last minute and the man has to grab the money and run. We already know he will get away with it. We knew it was happening but it was worth the risk and in the long run it is not worth pursuing. The elders of the bank have allowed it to happen. (images of the Seagram Building New York. Built in 1958 by Modernist Bauhaus trained Architects   Mies van der Rohe  and    Philip Johnson  who designed the four seasons restaurant.)

Dream Poem 35: Strong Room By the sea In a museum On the top floor In a room inside a room, Accessed by a key code Is a collection of precious stones, rubies and diamonds.

Dream Poem 64: 1260° stoneware At college I go down to the basement to the pottery room B64. Lots of people are busy making ceramics This is my room My ceramics room. I have a long conversation about which temperatures and I’m insisting “ I want it at 1260° stoneware“ the others don’t understand what this means or what it does to the ceramics. It means that the pot will become stoneware, like a stone It will be very strong, impermeable to water Almost unbreakable. I have a sculpted head I want to fire. A difficult girl with blue hair and a full sleeve tattoo is playing the guitar. I have to persuade her to do something, to do some work.

Dream Poem 53: Flying to be Free I am part of a huge community of men, women and children. But I long to fly I know its not allowed. I feel so frustrated by this restricted life I have to fly I need to fly If I don’t fly I will shrivel and die inside. Everyone is seated for a meal there are 100s of them beautiful people but my imperative is I need to fly. I know they will get in trouble but I ask a little girl child to open the door for me so I can fly She wants to do it for me. I have looked at all the open windows but they are all too small for me to fly through She is going to do it I am going to be free. Although I have always been free this is an element no one understands Because they cannot fly Because they don’t understand it. It is forbidden It is not a possibility It is not spoken of It is disapproved, feared, ignored It is not permitted Frowned upon. But I must I will It is as natural a...

Dream poem 48: School Reunion; Loss, Memory, Space School reunion Murder mystery A detective has come and we are in the art studio. Each one is part of the original group from 10 years ago. An Asian man, an African woman A school slacker. All together all with a part to play to recreate what happened 10 years ago. Things have changed so much A former student has success as an architect  and her art space is full of antique plan chests in wood, grandfather clocks. It is a tidy studio She is successful. The potion has to be created one more time. Some of the original group are missing though And it will not be the same Unless everyone is present once again. A leaflet blows off the table and flies down to the football field We all chase it Ending up in a locked garden where I used to work. Loss, memory, space.

Dream Poem 47: War ship, Beam of Light During the War I’m in a war ship, Looking at bath sponges from the sea, deciding which one to buy. A grand house in London, shut up for the war has a swimming pool in a conservatory. with all the water gone it looks dusty, abandoned and forlorn. A woman is called up to the Peace Corps. But a beam of light shot from a man’s eyes takes her away and impels her to go elsewhere in the service of another force. Roads right then left Looking for a house from the past, a memory house, a house of childhood uncertainty. Knowing I had been past it once Driving trying a different road.