Lowry's Lions, Berwicks Ramparts, The house of the blue gables, The Contented Sole

9th of October - All of these poems were written on my trip to St Andrews Open day on wednesday, we stopped in Berwick upon Tweed, a place where the artist Lowry (whom worked majorly in charcoal) worked and lived.
We walked the walls and i jotted down these pieces, I haven't had time to touch up on them, so these are as they were when i wrote them walking about, so don't expect too much !

We saw a grand house, which was derelict the time Lowry was there, and is now scrubbed up so as to honour his love of the place. It is present in many of his paintings/sketches. Outside the door were these two stone lions.


Lowry's Lions

Charcoal outlines the coastline,
it glistens in the setting sunlight,
staring, gazing with solemn, crazed eyes
the lions stone gaze cries
for a long-distant loving master
whom was their caster,
into charcoal on paper
into time,
their saviour.
Ex

Standing on a section of the ancient stone walls that surround the majority of the city, protecting it from the sea (and in places the scots) at around dusk, I could see cormrants (black water birds) what seemed to be a iron smelting building, with a huge red brick chimney, and the sea.


Berwicks Ramparts

From the stone
you see the waters edge
the sand, the weed,
a light house, white, red
on light light blue
and a colossal red finger of fire, from iron,
points to the sky.
It splits the lines of houses
from the sea.

Blackbirds hover,
finding the last of lights catch,
calls mix with the waves, crashing, loud,
but subdued, cowed by the walls, quietened,
less threatening, protecting.
Ex

Around the corner from the done up derelict house of Lowry's day, was -ironically- a derelict town house, with lovely blue gables, sided with a nicely done up one, with quite a boring however neat front.

The house of the blue gables

From the broken windows the eyes stare,
watch as tourists totter past
in the suns last glare.
They just gaze quietly, sadly,
beside their grand neighbour
whom wields the history, power.
When they are seen as lower,
though gables blue
they no longer house
their happy owner,
though past lives on in the broken windows
eyeless stare.
Ex

After Berwick, we headed past Eyemouth, where we stopped at a harbour side pub/restaurant called 'The Contented Sole'.

The Cotented Sole

The pubs open door breathes
warmth and music
onto the balmy harbour,
and the people settle into the cosy leather seats,
fish battered, sigh heat as sliced,
and the beer fizzes,
as the sun sets the people fill their hungry bellies,
with the possessions of the sea,
white fish in bubbling batter.
Ex