Exhibits
(Plymouth City Art Gallery, England - August 2001)
By Trevor Hewett

Ducking inside from the sudden rain
to see the art, get dry, kill time,
I am distracted by the viewers:
a pair of black-haired Chinese youths

smile silently at Beryl's 'Tavern',
move on, lean in synchrony
to interpret something abstract
(painted sideways, seemingly):

an old couple in plastic macs
seem puzzled but they "like the colours"
and break the sacred gallery rules
by eating apples and bananas:

a grey-haired, woman, richly-perfumed,
carries a yellow golf umbrella,
stands well back and peers at length,
squinting, as if solving puzzles:

several uniformed schoolboys
giggle, nudge each other, slouch
but stand in silence gazing at
'Captain Ahab' watching them:

a suited man assesses, circles
fast, referring to some papers,
makes some notes, frowns constantly
then, coughing, strides off in a rush....

All exhibits on display here;
paintings, people co-exist,
moving life among the still,
this art the catalyst.

Trevor Hewett is an Englishman who lives and writes in his native Cornwall. Published widely in the UK and internationally, he has a short collection of work - 'The Patchwork Woman' - available from Mockfrog Design Press, Australia.