This is what I saw – my first impressions of a few of the magnificent portraits that form a fraction  of the ‘Changing Pace’ exhibition on the Road to 2012 at the National Portrait Gallery

See With My Words – Part I

Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed
Choppy clouds, tones of grey
sky-pattern whispering of wind;
water, popples, bubbles, eddies,
dance of white-edged wavelets;
green-gold reeds arching, feathered heads
bowing, windswept supplicants;
oars, suspended over watery curls
oarsmen, still, listening, planning, seeing
victory.

Eleanor Simmonds
Arch of swimmer’s body,
curved with grace , curled strength,
balance, toe-perfect, pitching
forward, forward,
bunched, ready
to push, reach, dive, surface,
power-stroke till fingertips stretch,
touch chill, tile finish.

Phillips Idowu
Silver, tine-design, sand.
Coach, rake-supported expectation.
Man, centred, perfect, plumb,
sergeant straight –
impossibly high,
shoe-laces flying, tiny flags.

Chris Holmes
Tilted head, arms outstretched,
cruciform
body at one with the water.
Listening to slip slap secrets
from liquid depths.
At peace.