ATLANTIC BREAKERS... (My new poem inspired by a Peter Brook painting of North Cornwall...)

 Atlantic Breakers…

(My new poem inspired by Peter Brook’s painting…)

There is never any fuss along the north Cornish coastline

When the iconic remnants of a long disused tin mine 

Appear, like a sentry or a crude poignant landmark. 

The reminder of times past is nestled, yet fractured and stark

Against the Atlantic’s often cruel surf, whose rare beauty

Camouflages its evil inclinations, affording no pity

For the shoreline, for shipping, or for foolish humanity,

Its myriad hues stunning as it cunningly crafts another atrocity…

Dwarfed by a pronged chimney stack and the engine house shell,  

A figure lingers and listens as the restless ocean bellows its annoyance 

And exaggerates the mine’s abject silence, whilst the mewling spell  

Of miners’ wraiths haunt the howling winds to announce their eerie presence…  

Pete Ray…

31st January 2026…

I spend time in the Porthtowan area of North Cornwall each year and bodyboard there but every now and again, tin mine buildings litter the land and every time, my eyes are drawn to the wonder of them…

Some Cornish miners emigrated to work the lead mines in Wisconsin, USA and in winter months slept in burrows, like badgers.

The Wisconsin sports teams are known as the ‘Badgers’ to this day… 

I know this because I follow them…