Alexa Lawrence

Dmina view looking south.

Full moon Atlantic sunset

(Les Figuiettes, Monday 1st June 2015)

It is a requirement, to travel

all the way to the Mahgreb

to see an African moon rise, late afternoon

performing the eastern sky

accompanied by the slow, serene

withdrawal of a setting sun

on an indefinable Atlantic horizon.

Layers of atomised grey and blue

and watercolour blends, of violet

orange, pink, and gold

defy all attempts to differentiate

true horizon.

Somewhere, water changes into air,

Where is the boundary?

Which part is moisture laden salt and dust?

What part mirage?

Why do we persist in futile, dubious quests

to know the unknowable,

name the ephemeral,

discriminate the intangible,

explain the inexplicable,

and destroy all the mystery.

Dogs bark, a donkey brays

Distant human voices mark leave-takings and last calls

And the dark comes

Unsurprisingly,

on the roof of a Moroccan house.

Dmina view looking west to the Atlantic.

The soft geometry of a rural landscape

(Looking out from Dmina, Tuesday 2nd June 2015)

Dmina view looking south.

Broad fabric of fields spreads north to south

and west, across easy valleys

to an undulating horizon of pale mountains.

Early morning haze, cool to the eye, disperses.

A continuous, wide-angle of atmospheric perspective;

an artist’s manual of instruction by observation.

In the middle distance, the soft geometry of hand made fields

follows loosely some mathematical principles,

of pattern, halves, quarters, repetition and deviation.

Closer, fine dust carried on wind, coats roads and crops

grass rippled pastures and fields of ready wheat

shimmer with continual movement.

Fields around Dmina.  

Cucumbers, beans, potatoes, tomatoes

(Assilah, Friday 5th June 2015)

Abundance is always a surprise.

In colour, it is forceful

yet nuanced, with infinite inflections.

As shape, it resonates,

dynamic, pulsating with a charge

of likeness and variance

stimulating to the senses,

teasing the eye.

Two Assilah market boys work the street

alike, but different, they

thrust their distinctive tout and hype

in the direction of all who pass.

Does everyone see

they are two of the same?

Are they brothers

or twins?

A trick of the eye?

A mirage,

animated, exuberant,

extravagant, potent

a magnified experience,

this power of two.

The abundance of life

so vibrant.

Assilah street market.