Extracts from
BRIDGWATER - THE PARRETT'S MOUTH

© James Crowden

Quantock trees

Trees and the reflections of trees
Sharp shadows heeled into hedges
Low, winter light lancing the fields
As if a river of grass was flowing up hill.

Timber and memory awakened
Saunter along arm in arm,
As the sun's orchestra sweeps up
Above the kindling ridge.

Caught between branches
A perfect negative, leaves behind
Only itself, a shallow haunting
Dancing, the light fantastic.

 

Carnival Girl

One lone girl
And 17,000 light bulbs
Dancing the night away
Up front on the vagabonds cart.

Minutes before the start
An eerie silence

Ahead the waiting crowds
Lining the streets, twenty deep
The November night
A little cold for a bare midriff

Her last job, putting lipstick on the men.


Ironmongers

Two centuries of kitchen clutter
By Royal Appointment
Knife grinders and mincers
The House of Windsor
Ironmongery and knick-knacks
Paraphenalia preserved

eggtimers, scales and gas masks
carpet beaters, oilcans
put through it everyday
overseeing every bill and invoice
the patent medicine,
a haven of oddity hibernating.