Low clouds skulking greyly over hills approaching Portesham did not dampen feelings for the trip. OUT OF DORSET, i suddenly thought. Away from the desert.The desert that made strugglers of Zukofsky and Williams in this Age of Degeneration.
YUMMY PECAN PIE RAW FRUIT & NUT BAR AND RICE MILK IN BAG OVER SHOULDER. FORGOT CAMERA !!!!
Bus ascending hill out of Abbotsbury afforded no view of St.Catherine's out of rear window. Vision at top 50 yards at most for a while. Sheep in fields invisible to my gaze until past Swyre. Then, clarity of fields, sea & surf and all. We pass THE THREE HORSESHOES (Burton Bradstock) where, in '76, scoffed "tiddy oggies" for first time. That hot, dry summer of yellow fields, in Sally's car, all the way to BUCKFAST ABBEY. Memories flood. "Writing is an aid to memory."
Comfort break at Bridport Bus Station in refreshing shower - but, oh so lightly. Springlike. 12.25hours. Very comfortable. i know these roads and views from our family trips in the 60's, in the big Wolseley saloon Dad bought for a song, speeding to our caravan at Wheelrose near REDRUTH & the beach at PORTHTOWAN. The chimneys and the pink Thrift flowers.
CHARMOUTH at 12.40hours. Memory will remember even the unmemorable. BUT the long, slow descent into the belly of two converging hills that is LYME REGIS, is of another order. The softest spot, much sought after, by the sea, at the western edge of Dorset. A right royal place! But any more literary sons to be had after FOWLES? Fleeting glimpse of where stood THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN.... and at one minute short of 13.00 hours, i have fled DORSET for DEVON. The shackles have fallen and i'm singing/hearing LANA DEL REY - "Feet don't fail me now/ take me to the finish line/Oh my heart it breaks every step that i take...." along the shore at SEATON....
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So, you have your motto : No camera, more words! Excellent review. Ive gone to Exeter a couple of times myself on that bus and recognize the route & the views you describe. S/where i must have a note abt Seaton but dont recall what or where. Seaton is in Devon then? Good swag of scrapbook items i see in the collage. (Amused by the photographer's name : Byrne Jones as of the great Burne-Jones.)How long were you in Seaton? I imagine you had to catch return bus at some stage. All this bodes well for my next trip : the map opens up for us! (By the way, 'strugglers in the desert', Pound's nod to Zukofsky & Bunting. Strugglers for acclaim? He had enough himself by then; what followed was poetic justice. And 'degeneration' a word out of radicals & fascists handbook. Avoid, mon frere!)
ReplyDeleteOf course ! BUNTING not WILLIAMS! Unfortunate assocciation re Age of Degeneration - but mine was the Buddhist reference = it was thought to last a few hundred years sometime after the Buddha's enlightenment and the initial flowering of the Dharma. It seems never to have stopped = degeneration in society is increasing and all around us in a variety of ways....
ReplyDeleteI simply dont hold with that static/perfection point of view. If you & your Buddhists are describing entropy then that's a fact of life. No life without a death & etc. I dont hold with golden age. Being here is enough for me!
Deletei do not think the Buddhists out there would hold with my view of my take on degeneration. But i would contend "things" is gettin' worse. AND in a variety of ways. Personally, i feel there is ALWAYS a situation to be getting-on with and am not cowed, these days, by the slide towards "the abyss". i do have ideas of perfection/idealism etc but have stepped away, i feel, by keeping these ways of mine to myself as much as poss. i try to inject a sense of humour and lightness....i am not all light and love = a work in progress. BEING HERE is enough for me as well = another work in progress....
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