Last night I was wandering the grass and gorse of the famous 'Valley of Rocks' looking for just the right place for six poetry boxes to be tethered for three months from June. I arrived at about eight in the evening and climbed straight up from the Poets Hut to find a bench perched high on what felt like a birds Erie, a crows nest bathing in the spectacle of a tempestuous May sunset.
If there is ever a spot to engage your inspiration then this is truly the front row, it's super HD, has tactile experiences embedded (weather) and super surround sound, there is even a cafe (valley bottom left) plus space for more than one bottom, what could be better.
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| The higher path which leads back into Lynton town. |
The path fed me along the high cliff then into Lynton town itself, I then switched back along the lower path, with the sea far below, full of dizziness and mermaids' promises. I counted the benches all the way then circled Castle Rock to the bay beyond, where I spied a crack of moon to lure me down to the sands far below, to take me where I had never ventured before.
So down to Wringcliff Bay in the failing light, bullish waves and black sands, with a child's voice high up on a crag across the darkness, calling - come find me, come find me!
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| Low light, on the beach under Castle Rock |
This is the dimpsey, where stories take form in the half light and rocks seem to wander on the edges of my vision, or hunker down under observation. This is the time of night when the simple rules of the world break and crumble, the child's voice, thrown about the tight bay from far above, pleading for help, failing on a precipice 600ft above the darkness of the boiling brine.
So back up the zig zag I clamber, journeyed by shadows and misdirection, and the voice calls again, come find me - come find me, to lure me out onto tufts of grass held by nothing but sea air and guillemots curves.
Then by the light of the jagged moon I spy the goats, indifferent to my attendance, taunting me with their old games.
So Poetry Boxes are coming together, just like the Story Boxes along the Coleridge Way, and they will be out during the same period - June to end August.
Thank you to Lynton Town Council for permissions, and also Lynmouth Pavilion for commissioning the project, lets hope we get some gems of words about these special places. I'll be posting and also twittering images throughout so you can digitally follow from your armchair, though I'd rather you crept out and wrote something fabulous in the boxes instead, but just be careful about wandering the paths after the day has passed.
