A COMPILATION OF POETRY DEPICTING CORNWALL …€¦ · Ghosts of rainbows sit. CRYSTAL CAGES . i. ndia. T. okeley. Fragmented white light dances, chases Reflections in the House of

A COMPILATION OF POETRY DEPICTING CORNWALL THROUGH

MINING & MINERALS

Introduction 3

Information 4

Acknowledgements 5

The Beginning 6

STone CirCle 7

Milky QuarTz CrySTal 8

CrySTal CageS 9

Crow in FlighT 10

JaCkdawS 11

Blood orange 12

SugarSCaleS 13

high on zennor CliFF 14

heMaTiTe 15

worn 16

wandering in The rain 17

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

This e-book was produced to commemorate the bicentennial year of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.

Growing up in Cornwall, I have long appreciated the many stones which form our unique landscape; the tors on Bodmin Moor, the quarries near St. Austell, the great engine-houses at Rinsey which once extracted tin ore from the earth, the pebbles on the shoreline, the cliffs buffetted by the sea, the standing stones which rise proudly out of the wild countryside towards Lands End and the thick granite walls of the cottage where I live.

Our existence depends upon the geology of the land beneath our feet and upon the rocks and minerals which have shaped our history.

~ India TokeleyMarCh 2015

INFORMATION

The poetry featured in this book has been produced at Truro & Penwith College by students on the FdA English Studies course.

As we explored Cornwall and its landscape (physically andmetaphorically), we were inspired by the mining industry and the different ways in which minerals affect our lives.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PoeTryRosie BealeHelen DraperClare DwyerJoshua JohnsWayne PeplowIndia TokeleyAnnabel Vigar

PhoTograPhyRosie BealeIndia Tokeley

OTHER CONTRIBUTORSCaradoc PetersTruro & Penwith CollegeThe Royal Geological Society of Cornwall

STONE CIRCLE wayne PePlow

The chosen throng, hack, split and chisel away,To release these selected rocks from the sacred sea-cragAnd deliver them to the arms of the awaiting congregation.

Then; dragged by beasts of burden, across heather-filled moorland.Carried by the chants of a hundred worshippers,Through an ancient and long-forgotten woodland.

Reunited with the ground; the special ellipse that mirrors moon and stars.

Once proud, these monoliths,Now teeter and lean against the windThe force that once drew them - dead.

All alone in wide open pastureland,Sheltering sheep lay prostrate in the afternoon sun,Paying homage to this once revered monument:These granite standing-stones.

THE BEGINNING wayne PePlow

Cascading light covers carboniferous forest,Myriapods feed in trilobite swamps,Lava pillows form a sedimentary seabed,Bedrock sleeps to amber dreams,Climatic craters vent volcanic vapour,The founding of life in the potter’s kiln.

Tectonic tremors open fathomless fissures,Down volcanic pipes into continental crust,Magma reservoirs feed carbonate rivers,A craton root feeds xenolith rocks,Serpentine stones and gargoyle garnets,Visions of Earth through volcanic glass.

MILKY QUARTZ CRYSTAL roSie Beale

Pyramidic, pegmatiticHard waxy lustre,Brittle quartz shard,Within splinter cluster.

Cave-cracking lineAcross crusted reefSloping, six-sidedSplit silicon teeth.

Fractured fissures deepIn cloudy composite,Glinting milky light, whereGhosts of rainbows sit.

CRYSTAL CAGES india Tokeley

Fragmented white light dances, chasesReflections in the House of Mirrors.The Janus-stone: its many facesHave seen spectrums shattered,Splintered into shards.

And all along the Thread of Ages,Refracted energy glances, rebounds -Distil it into crystal cages!Before spectrums shatter,Splint’ring into shards.

CROW IN FLIGHT JoShua JohnS

Hear the crow’s call!Caught between the fresh fragrance of morning dewAnd a lifting haze, removing itselfSlowlyRevealing Nature’s morning masterpiece.The haze clears,A crow sweeps and swoopsDips and dives

Gaze upon the jet black flight,Feathers fill the turquoise air,Dark silk disturbs the white clouds,Its height dwarfs me. Its majesty belittles me,Its marble eye surveys all below,Echoed by the call of the crow.

JACKDAWS roSie Beale

Moonstone eye, onyx feather,Jackdaws sit on line together.Watching, waiting - bouncing wire,Flattened fox, muddy mire.

Rustling feathers, stretching flight,Target carcass from great height.Picking, stripping – sinew, bone,Fighting over body prone.

Furry meat within full beak,Swooping back across damp street.Back to chicks in twigs and leaves,Nested warm within the eaves.

SUGARSCALES india Tokeley

Sugared scales, ruby eyes,A strange and serpentine surprise. Diamonds down your tapered tail, Glinting armour, gold chain-mail.

Two-pronged tongue to taste the air, Undulating, perfect, bare.Scintillating, sleek and strong, Caress my skin, slither along.

Underbelly ghostly white, Like sailors drowned at dead of night.Albino dragon, worm of sin:I let the devil’s servant in.

BLOOD ORANGE roSie Beale

Lush, smooth blood orange,Glossed stone against my cheek.Wanting my teeth to biteInto its segmented meat. Gliding my brow,Cooling and calm.Blister of fading sunset,Sliding my palm.

Carnelian stone,Harvest-moon face.Nestled, safely hidden,Within my hand’s embrace.

HIGH ON ZENNOR CLIFF wayne PePlow

A transient visitor profiles hard rock,Eager flesh on an adrenalin-fuelled trip,A journey of freedom from reality.

Elegantly wandering sheets of undulating graniteThe rock junkie makes purposeful progress.That sacred mission of sequenced movements.

Far below echo cries of encouragement,Dissolved by Zen-like concentration,Pausing. The route ahead featureless,Sunlight. Quartz vein flashes,A mineral pass through vertical landscape.

Crossing his white line of weakness,Tips cautiously caress the crystal braille trail. Savouring each moment of existence,On the narrow route of death and vitality,Traversed with complete disdain of fear.

Summit reached.His thirst momentarily satiated,Sweet chemical rush, assimilated -Intoxication soon fades away,Unwillingly, he turns and descends the pathway.

HEMATITE Claire dwyer

Black, glisteningHeart of the kidneyBackbone of industryRaising iron skeletonsVeins of Empire.

Alloyed, allied, redoxed, reducted,Bessemered, gossamer gold,Steel bones of progress.Done!

Gone.

WORNhelen draPer

Little hand so full of finest sand;You grasp a million shards of grated shells. Beaten, bruised and battered cliffs;Salty tarnished tears of mighty rocks.

You grasp a million shards of grated shells,Not long ago at home in icy depths;Salty tarnished tears of mighty rocks:A finite carpet sweeps from shore to shore.

Not long ago at home in icy depthsRocks lay smothered by salt’s caress,A finite carpet sweeps from shore to shoreMoulded, formed by darkened watery hands.

Rocks lay smothered by salt’s caress,Waves grope and smother crumbling coastal landMoulded, formed by darkened watery hands,Chiselled, hacked by unrelenting force.

Waves grope and smother crumbling coastal land,Beaten, bruised and battered cliffsChiselled, hacked by unrelenting force:Little hand so full of finest sand.

WANDERING IN THE RAINannaBel Vigar

I can smell the rain on my skin and the air,Lavender, heather, wild green mossy trees,Running free with my heart to rocky cliffs,No feeling, no thought, oh just let me be.

Lavender, heather, wild green mossy trees,Dancing through a storm, waiting to settle,No feeling, no thought, oh just let me be,The ocean, the sky, the lonely white star.

Dancing through a storm, waiting to settle,Running free with my heart to rocky cliffs,The ocean, the sky, the lonely white star,I can smell the rain on my skin and the air.

Thank youTo all readerS & ConTriBuTorS

www.rgsc.co.ukroyal geologiCal SoCieTy oF Cornwall weBSiTe

www.truropenwith.ac.ukTruro & PenwiTh College weBSiTe

www.facebook.com/indyTediTor/ProduCer’S Page

www.flickr.com/photos/schnowbabyPhoTograPhy By roSie Beale

A compilation of mineral-themed poetry by FdA English Studies students at Truro &

Penwith College, in celebration of the RGSC’s bicentennial year.