MOUNTS BAY BEAM TRAWLERS... (A NEW POEM...)

Mounts Bay Beam Trawlers

(from Sasha Harding’s artwork…)

Past a misted St Michael’s Mount,

Upon a becalmed ocean towards Newlyn,

The ‘William Stevenson’, its hold filled 

Perhaps with monkfish, too many to count

Appears ordered, spick and span,

The painted black hull smooth,

Like its contrasting pale yellow, the boat’s dog chilled:

And the wash at the bow gleams as white

As the fisherman’s beard, a fellow long in the tooth...

Past a misted St Michael’s Mount,

Through a choppy sea out of Newlyn,

The ‘Resurgam’, with empty hold,

Perhaps for monkfish or sole,

Appears disordered, dull and worn,

The weathered black hull rusted,

Like its contrasting pale yellow, the boat’s aura cold:

And the wash round the bows dithers white,

But in this trawler, the crew’s lives are entrusted…   

Pete Ray

April 2020…  

Sasha Harding’s picture of the ‘William Stevenson’ (PZ 195) is really neat and there is comfort in looking at it.

Strangely though, there is also comfort to be gained from the image of the ‘Resurgam’ (PZ 1001), which like PZ 195 is passing St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall.

‘Resurgam’ was given its name after being sunk and then raised by a Torbay trawler, the word meaning ‘to rise again’…