STAITHES... (My new poem inspired by Peter Brook's painting from the 1950s...)

 Staithes…

(Inspired by Peter Brook’s painting, late 1950s…)

The sheer absence of human life focuses the mind

Upon the contrasting landscapes at each steep side 

Of a beck, which runs into the harbour and writhes with the incoming sea.

The stark cliff in the background rises to its jagged edges,

Soiled and dull amber, with a sparse fence at its summit, 

Sheltering the harbour, where large fishing vessels and cobles

Are moored, cradled by a substantial and a stable harbour wall

From the North Sea’s wild tides and storms of vicious cruelty…

To the climb towards the village from the quayside, folks were always resigned,

To reach a confusion of contrasting dwellings, identified

By their individuality, built higher and higher up the cliff,

seemingly higgledy-piggledy.

They struggle to obtain light and are constructed at angles, some upon ledges,

Almost precarious, creating the possibility that they might plummet

And tumble down, down to the feasting ocean, across scored cobbles.

Chimneys lean, buildings are daubed in a myriad of colour and a single bell waits to call 

Children to school, or families to church from a hamlet which somehow defies gravity…

Pete Ray…

26th January 2026…

A FEW IMAGES FROM MY VISITS TO STAITHES FEATURE BELOW...

A COBLE FISHING BOAT...