'LUGGERS': MY NEW POEM INSPIRED BY SASHA HARDING'S PAINTING...

 Luggers

(inspired by Sasha Harding’s painting…)

The Painting:

Proud lug sails of dull red

Feature as a vessel leaves 

Fowey and steers out into the ocean,

Its tiller clutched by the skipper’s hand;

Expectation turns every head

Seaward and each of them believes

And clings to the hope and notion

That shoals will be found and the catch will be grand… 

The Image:

Sombre lug sails, erect,

Draw mild scrutiny

From Newlyn’s old quay;

The tethered off-shore luggers detect

Changes in wind or tide at anchor, forlorn,

Seemingly awaiting instruction;

A sullen mule lurks, hooves damp

Upon shore’s rank mud, its drawn cart

Closely guarded by a cross section

Of masculinity, lounging athwart

And a solitary basket lies, an abstraction,

Incongruous in its redundant neglect…

Pete Ray

October 2020

Sasha Harding’s painting is such a contrast to the image from Newlyn, long ago…

The old quay wall remains, although new harbour arms and many vessels now crowd Newlyn, as evidenced by my photos…