Last night’s Red Chair Event honoured Matcham Skipper. His nephew Sigmund Jorgensen spoke of his uncles life and times. Jenni Mitchell put together a presentation of her memories of Matcham. This was beautifully read by Mandy Press. Andy Drewitt’s definitive video presentation was shown. August Skipper, Matcham’s grandson, read a poem he wrote shortly after his Grandfather’s passing.
The Barn was filled to capacity. There was a lot of love in the room
It gives me the greatest pleasure to publish August’s poem in memory of Matcham Skipper.
VIEW FROM KG MEMORIAL TOWER
WHILE THINKING OF MY GRANDFATHER DECEASED
Where a little pillar of smoke rises
a little house has fallen
a hole in memory gives way
to one thousand tears
the distant rumble of a machine eating oil
secret rivers cross deep beneath my feet
my grandfather is dead now
not victim to some long forgotten war
pacified instead
by a life worn to its very edges
he did not cease to be human
in his final hours
but instead found that thing
moments before he passed
in life I could not find his praise
many could not
& settled upon silence
as the wisest work of art
& when his teeth slipped into nonsense
and he did not come around any longer
haranguing me
or my imaginary works
I thought I had lived to see his defeat
defeated by a hole in memory
defeated by his own mauled stories
by a 25 mile procession
the tsar & the revolutionary guard
parading down the tin shed promenades of Moscow
by the white box beneath the hills of Montsalvat
which loosed the mystery upon the world
two lions splinter through his television
neon waves break in the kitchen
it seems the trees have outgrown the monument
paired halves of this great view
sealed inside a single green corridor
I am no longer aching to find out
what is waiting on the other side
I realised I have arrived
already here
My sincere thanks to August for allowing me to publish his poem.
