Hi James. In general I enjoy your estuary series. I am not sure which
estuary is yours but then it does not matter. All estuaries are not the same
but have a sameness in that they are tidal, and attract mostly the same
birds. The cormorant is my favourite. I do not visit many estuaries but when
I do I remember your poems James, sometimes wonder if that dark brush stroke
of a man by the wall is you or sees what you see. I like the estuary at
Largs, so too, the one at Arnside. After Largs I visited Ayr and was
dumfounded by the fact that someone, some people, had found the brutish
mindless energy to wheel 13 shopping trolleys from the nearest Supermarket
and throw them into the beautiful harbour there, what dumbfounded me more
was that by the amount of silt that had gathered about them they had been
there a while and no one had thought to remove them.
But to your poem........
I find the second person voice confusing but assume it is the poet
addressing the man and they two are one ie James. but right at the very end
of the poem the 'you' seems to be the cormarant.
I like the notion that things viewed from a distance can appear to be a
bird, in this case a cormorant.I always feel that however confusing this can
be there is always some clue of life where there is life.
Thanks for an interestin read.
Lonely places, estuaries!! Regards Arthur.
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Bell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 12:32 PM
Subject: New sub: Still


> A firstish draft of another estuary series poem.
>
>
> STILL
>
> you stil break out into sunshine
> still face the cold westerly wind
> that does not attract many
> to this place where you sit
>
> hit a sudden blast of rain -
> from shelter you can see
> the log branch that floated
> beside you as you walked
>
> downriver and thought it
> like a cormorant's neck and head
> as it continued to bob and imitate
> as the submerged log carried on
>
> left you behind at the end
> of the quay - though in minutes
> you see it from a vantage point
> out on the estuary
>
> stalled though still bobbing
> a short distance from a real
> cormorant - for you there is
> sun and wind to say-
>
> you are still alive - not
> wood and only bobbing
>
>
>
> bw
> James
>
>