I. At Sea
Attic points towards the edge
a calling and connecting of places or things
Outside and incoming, internal and far
A distance set but with travel between
<< Comfort >>
A lighthouse had been assembled
and one at lower level
Fixed on the higher ground and moveable on sand
enabling boats to navigate the dangerous inshore passage.
<< Foghorn sound >>
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(This channel is no longer there, but was formed of the sandbanks which are constantly shifting).
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Sea, moon, strobe, sound (imagine)
Danger at sea, ships in dark water
stillness and
the dark,
rough water
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Revolutions of scanning light
seen from the attic window
How far the light travels
Speckle grain getting weaker, powdering into nowhere
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Visibility alters as vapour settles
a dullness of shining pieces << aerosol >> touching ground
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The danger familiar
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Lie under a low padded ceiling
Room beneath the eaves,
Of angles and insulation,
Nestle into the distant drone
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Core rumble. Low internal hum,
bed and rooftop, peace and sound
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Ship sternum under
An oily darkness strewn with silver moon light shoals
fragments rippling untraversable
Far into unimaginable cut off distance
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Try to name the possibility of being lost, stuck, in
Continuity, fluid and rolling
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To hear is to be close to land
Or learn you are too close, or know
the thickness of the night sea and
the lonely strung-out straying
of farthest ships
Is close to your bed, to your walls, to your window.
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(Overlapping text in print or sound)
A dormer window looking out,
Periscopic
Single panes
fit loosely. They
rattle in the wind
And let in snow (water / ice)
Which collects on the sill.
The triangular side panes are pulled across with two thin pink curtains
like flags, their shape-giving nylon curls as they hang.
Through the glass (left)
The way the eyes slide to imagine,
town, harbour, lighthouse
And horns blown
from other ships and land
And on windy nights when sound carries
The clink of slackened ropes and pulleys against the masts.
The curtains have been made to match
The ceiling, pale pink to coordinate with
wallpaper in rosebuds.
The wall is fragile in its reinforcing insulation
To keep the outside out and the warmth within and
Behind this paper, is layered
Foil and foam.
From the beginning, every knock is remembered
Notched with accidental inverting proximity
And torn at by enquiring fingers
Picked down to the silver.
A panelled board painted gloss white
Is held level with the wall by two turning catches.
It is packed behind with insulating fibreglass
that would be dangerous on our skin
So we should leave this shut,
but (in any case), to open this hatch would be to fall out of the tall side
and into the vertical night.
Murmuring into the space,
Ears and bones thrum with
A message sent out to sea
That connects the fluid ear
Or sinus caverns
With the carrier’s lilt in the dark
And the deep slicing trundle of moving through water
queuing the channel to pass through the town
This echo might be muffled by insulation
But the gaping window and thin glass speak with it
And the glass is cold to touch.
Pools of condensation peel paper at the joins
II. Overlap
Pale land strip of lessening forms
that is covered, uncovered
As though it stays still but
Has moved and is moving
Year on year the edge got closer
Ground not ground enough and bases,
Even high ground
Falling and eroding
Become the bed beneath
A damp pressed sand bed,
Sea washing over and back
Covering, uncovering, encroach and recede,
A changing distance, still and mixing
Slope that connects
to underneath
<< heavy water >>
A shelf the feet won’t reach
That lowers and lowers
Lie down on the beach
Pockets_
Suddenly awash!
Cavities and sinuses
Bone flushed with fluid,
A basin filling
Over and over.
Later,
rubbing the sand off our skin
And shaking from our carried things
that when it sticks
Migrates back to keep us awake
woken, with gritty friction
Folded into sheets and into the hair line
Emptying in piles like weighing out sugar as we undressed
Next day ever finding
that where we had been had been washed flat, smoothed
And sometimes losses
of holes or their inverse
a new level surface
Where the grains weren’t jumpy
But the sea had crawled up bleeding
flooding over our environment
And we were always underwater
In the times between
III. Contained
Descending ledges without solidity beneath
Vacuum mouldings
lead down to a limited well
Sunken within the floor and filled
Spearmint like the walls.
Ascend on the reverse side,
A concertina fans down and out
Fluid motion of transitioning receivers
Meet their guides to lever
And leave a new body
to return
This circuit of hosting frames
Began and ended
The carpeted cover now pulled over
Dense matted fuzz of ashen soil, felted and wrapped over corners
Of the supporting frame
Bare feet trodden
Dry, then wet
And heavier outdoor shoes.
IV. Flood
An upstairs panelled room
Chairs named of a sequence, numbered
every wooden surface communes
High windows where the light pours downwards
Morning dust tunnels
summon anticipation
A bare whining floor that echoes with the shifting weight
furniture carried and stacked now clear
A space, be seated
call and wait
<< ... >>
Invited, it rolls
through every surface and flushing out to sea
And here, they be flooded in that upstairs room!
Rained on by a rising tide
Living water flowed,
Through chairs stacked, sail and
upturned
bodies on the floor,
Channelling through them
And left, with the spirit still on them. Walking, crossed the bridge and they sat upon the sand, still immersed but stirring and watched for signs that this had passed.
V. Partition
The town in two (Fig. 5)
Sea spreads into inlets, filling
Harbours, basins and
salt marshes further inland
Over it, a bridge that carries
Main route (a)cross(ing) lays in two.
Alternating lights and bell sounds to raise
this proxy foundation
as an active object,
parting as it heaves on hinges
And folds towards the sky.
Solid streams for live and weighted transit
Somersault like foetal memory, float in walls
contained and turning,
this mechanical inversion of stomach, head and principal routes
Re-diverts towards a vertical axis
A tall void between
Body lengthways (a ship)
toes down touching << … >>
and corrugated sides.
Slippy growth overlaying,
slime accumulation and inset rungs.
Drop within this harsh container,
guiding passage,
<< Hull >>
Blunt sides plunge down blindly, holding channelled force.
And is passed through
<< the body >>
hit head on
ploughed through unstoppingly, horn sound blow
and obliterates
on contact, atomising
into the silver
Become the slow surrounding mass,
solid and vapour
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(Disperses)
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(cont.)