Poems

ORDNANCE SURVEY MAP 122: BRIGHTON & HOVE

Peacehaven to Lewes

And then I see the views out
               to the sea in the south
                               & across the Weald
               in the north
                               a high chalk ridge
               under a glassine sky

                                                         a space of enunciation

trace landscapes
               vacant lots
                               a pivotal place

the fields lie fallow
               waiting for rain
                               waiting for the yoke

walking in / walking out
               looking for the gap
                               in the hedge

the hole
               in the tree
                               an aperture

in the season of absolute light
               before harvest
                               prefaces the closing down

Listen for the undersong
               sounds I cannot
                               name / locate

Disturbances within the threshold
of hearing are sampled in time.
The song that the rigging makes,
Port of Gloucester. The acoustics
of the sea. Here / there

the wind is constant
               the roll call of the dead
                               is etched on my heart

               Every day the list increases.

Meridian: The great circle of the celestial sphere that passes through its poles and the observer’s zenith. The imposition of a mental map upon physical topography.

The opening lines of Part I of Meridian (Peacehaven to Greenwich). You can read a further excerpt (from Part II of Meridian) here.