Newport trilogy

-
 Dear Monty,

Holidays give time for reflection - here are three illustrated poems inspired by the town of Newport Pembrokeshire.


1.

Begotten

Today have I begotten you

The child feeding the pony an apple over the stile
The sun weakly shining over the sea
The smile

The food and wine shared in a stone cottage above that sea
And below the hill of angels.

He became a little lower than the angels
Today have I begotten you

The sun
The earth
The moon
The tide

When does it end -
This ever learning and never understanding ?
When do we rest from our labours or cease from our endless fight ?






2.

Bright water

Geese flocks noisily feeding
Haunting the estuary with their sound
Stones stand
Norman walls
Ancient church

These walls have stood for longer than the flesh and blood that built them
Perhaps this is why there is desperation and frustration for us mortals who rage
To see the pace at which we age

The power that once drove us to unite
Now slackens
Like the tide
I still fear this powerful pull
Toward dangerous joy

Ultimately the bright water remains
And the decades roll into one blinding moment.





3.

There is a small town
Where the mud laden river runs brown
And mauve streaks the sea
Fading into blue, silver, green

Foxes scent the garden above the bay
Curved, moon-like

Purple spiked reds
Cotton seed heads
Of willow herb float in the evening air

Curlews curl around the estuary
While hunting dogs are sleeping
Dreaming of squirrels
And walks
And living every day.





Paul.

Comments

  1. Marigold Jam18 October 2015 at 15:59

    Lovely paintings and beautiful words I am forwarding the link to your post to a friend who lives near Newport and who will enjoy them too I know. Glad you enjoyed your holiday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer18 October 2015 at 16:05

      I just love Newport - we stay every year - sometimes twice a year. It has a pull on our lives. Thank you for your comment.

      Delete
  2. Anne Wareham18 October 2015 at 16:00

    Fantastic. The poems AND the pictures - love the pictures, Paul! Xxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer18 October 2015 at 16:08

      Thank you Anne, these are watercolour on paper with common old bic biro. I like them too !

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pity the cabbage white

-
Image
Dear Monty, Having seen you protect your newly planted cabbages from cabbage white butterflies - it made me realise that I haven't seen many this year. Despite warmth yesterday - a brief interlude with blue sky and a light wind there was a dearth of butterflies in the coal tip garden. There were honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, hover flies, a gangly legged wasp, one hedge brown, one speckled wood and a common blue - that is all. Oh and a frog sheltering in the shady hosta and a silent peregrine falcon swooping overhead. What has happened to all the insects ? What has happened to all the aphids this year ? Is it just me that is missing them ? I have seen no ladybirds or ladybird larvae - because there have been so few aphids - was it the birds that have snaffled them ? I worry about the lack of insect numbers. We walked through a wild meadow full of meadow cranesbill and meadowsweet with the purple haze of knapweed in the grasses and yet there were one or two meadow br...
Read more

Letter to Monty Don 48

-
Image
Dear Monty, I know that despite these rambles being addressed to you, they never reach your eyes or heart, but this question is most certainly directed to you : Can nature be ugly ? I am pondering this question sitting in my cupboard of a 'studio' where I am putting the finishing touches to paintings of  British native orchids, pollinators and butterflies for an exhibition next weekend. Now I believe that you understand perfectly well the response you may get when you make statements on GW - including the one about spent buddleja flowers being 'ugly'. I too have always deadheaded my buddleja for the same reason, and as you said to promote new flower spikes. But this ugliness is an intrinsic part of nature - it sets seed to create the next generation, the flowers last but for a few days. Is this ugliness a kind of acknowledgement of the frailty of 'beauty' .... and the cutting off and tidying away a kind of denial ? ( Perhaps I think too much.) I ...
Read more

Monty, where does the road take us ?

-
Image
Monty, I see you have returned to France. Your film reminded me of my visits to Paris as an art student between 1981-83. It is a city that cannot fail to make an impression with its wide open streets, avenues of trees, the river and public gardens. I particularly remember Versailles with its long canal. At that time I was not aware of having a particular interest in gardens, but the gardens at Versailles were astonishing. I saw them in early morning light, when there were not that many people there. I also remember being intrigued by the garden at the Musee Rodin. Strangely for an art student, it was not the sculpture that caught my attention but the garden with pyramid shaped topiary. Perhaps what I was responding to was the sense of order, balance and harmony. It almost feels as though I was meant to visit, and that the encounters I had which were sensually intense, were pre-ordained. There is one incident, which has great significance only to me perhaps, but which was of ...
Read more