Mousehole: Looking Out In Hats…
Add colour and the image could be
An ostentatious painting by a Newlyn artist,
Walter Langley perhaps within a panorama,
For the scene was also maybe staged cannily,
An essay photographed to reminisce
And create some 19th century seafaring drama…
A boy wears a straw boater,
And sits precariously upon
A holed, upturned boat, its
Repair not yet done.
Heads are covered by hats:
Berets, bowlers and an occasional cap
But there are no Mousehole cats or pesky gulls,
For the focus is the harbour’s grudging gap…
Luggers moored appear to crowd the quay
And, as with arms held high,
Their masts dry salty, stinking nets
In vain surrender to a fractious sea.
Villagers watch and surely sigh,
Whilst a fishwife stands and doubtless frets…
Chimneys once billowed out belching smoke
But now deter perching gulls with loose wire.
No working luggers the harbour now choke,
For attracting tourists is the main desire.
I’ve sat on those stones too and lazily gazed
Out at Mount’s Bay, wracked by gales
And the view from the quayside has always amazed,
For Mousehole’s sheer unchanging fascination prevails…
Pete Ray
The image reminded me of the kind of painting often associated with the Newlyn School of artists.
The characters, the sea, the fishing industry all combined to make me think of how so little, yet so much has changed in Mousehole…
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.