Friday 1 January 2021

QUESTIONS BEYOND THE PARK

 

QUESTIONS BEYOND THE PARK

During April-September 2020, I ran daily around Ashurst and Colbury Recreation Ground (see the photo-poems 'Isolated Dialogues'). During October-December I ran instead around the streets, paths and fields of the parish of Ashurst & Colbury.
 


Sign 

How close is  close?

I’d say that we're already there.


 


Brambles

Blood-red berries and thorns to draw the blood’s red from the flesh.

Could you ask a plant to make more sense?



Protection

Why the celebrity-standard barrier to keep us away?

 I’ve never seen such pampered pampas grass.



McLaren

How many cars are always in their drives?

Plenty, perhaps, but this is the one I notice, saving the environment from itself. 

 

Sign 

Is this to make sure drivers get the imminence of humps

before they get the hump from slowing down?

 


Worksite

Toilets to let: I like that. But are the workers really

so disgusting that they can’t be allowed to go inside the house?

  

Lawn 

Is the lay of stones a lawn of sorts

or simply an escape from the mowing?



Sign 

Who was Ms Whartons, and why did they name the road for her?

Or should I ask: who was Mr Wharton, and why did he hate apostrophes?



Cul-de-sac

Estimated ratio: 50% of roads round here.

More than in life, or just being realistic?

 


Lawn 

How scrubby can a lawn become

before we seek a different designation?



Shelter

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Ashurst. Passengers. Totton. What did Gaugin find so hard?  



Tahiti

How far is it? Just 500 yards -

but disappointingly cool.



 

Crab apple


What can it mean, all furcoat, work and fruit,

no knickers, play or leaves?

 


Daisies

What is beauty? Hard to say,

but here it is in the eyes of the flowers beheld.




Telephone Wire


How did you walk across? Not quite as fast as the electrical energy

for fear of the acoustic conversion of hitting the ground. 



Weather

Why run in this?

Easy enough: on return you’re halfway through your shower.


 


Sign 

At first I assumed this  'K’ was for Kitten, or maybe for Kat.

But is that, in fact, a sodden Kdog or Ksquirrel?



Flood

Is this the pavement? Well, it was last week.

Which isn’t, I guess, the answer for now. 






Passage

Why not run under?

Beyond here lies Totton, you need to take care.





Red, blue and white

What's the art? Maybe how the colour links between the parts

pull the landscape between them into the space of the work.  



Lawn 

No grass, a new function, no surface on view.

Surely this one has escaped its given status?



Pavement

Is my tread so very heavy?

I didn’t think so, even if I could lose weight.



Farm

How now black cow? Patently patient.

I’d get browned off, chewing grass all day.




Lawn

Can I call this a ‘lawnscape’? The natural and the cultural

conjure organic geometry for our viewing. 


Prop

What keeps this fence from crashing down?

I suspect, despite appearances, just itself.



Stack

The strong winds I grant, but the eerie precision?

That went well beyond the forecast’s brief.




Paint

What’s the appeal of peeling paint? The flouting of the uniform, the equivalent

of patina, the visible textility, the cost and labour saved. Why isn’t the norm?




Hedge

 

Taller than bushes, shorter than trees, wider than fences, lighter than walls…

Is this how a garden hedges its bets?



Number I


Who wouldn't want to live in the year of their lives -

maximum maturity compatible with no-one yet regarding you as old?  




Number II


But is it enough to be happy?

Should one not be bright as well, and joyful?






Sign 

Time's not all you can pass in this place.

Did you remember to bring the football?





BML2 E2/13D

What can I see from this bridge, bottom right? A yellow gate. A family group. The station.

And the leaves I haven’t counted in the yet that, trainlike, may not come.



Bottle

What is the term when a water bottle

is wetter on the outside than the inside?





Watch

It’s good to feel we’re safe round here,

but who looks out for signs of aging signs? 




Cotoneaster I

Can I justify a couple of lines,

not by asking ‘are these my mother’s favourite plants?’


 


Cotoneaster II

but by asking whether asking that

amounts to enough of a question?

 


Velux

Are all velux windows made by Velux,

or has the term just hoovered up the skylight competition?

 


Dormers

How are things in dormer land?

Only as they always were, except with a little more room.



Originals


Not many have left their roofs unlit.

What goings-on are hidden in those darks? 

 


Hump

If what looks so modest on foot feels so substantial by car, 

what does that tell us about the problems of achieving true empathy? 



Danger

Know what I reckon? The sign was calmly making its point when

Oop! it fell foul of its very own words.




Caution

What gives now? It seems

a Give Way sign has given way.


 


Speed

 

Don’t tell me that a 30 warning

has been caught exceeding its own limit?

 

 

 


Leaves

Do you believe in autumn?

I might not, but the evidence is strong.  




Cat

How do cats classify? Into those who love them, those who hate them,

and those who reject such simple categories.




Cover

What will emerge from under? I like the thought

that nothing will, that this is a case of form over function.

 


Absence

Does this make the heart glow fondly,

thinking back to the sign that fell?



Tree

Only 40 days to go? I guess this is too big to move,

but maybe this year’s Christmas will be outside…

 


Trees

Between the sign and the reality falls the representation.

Or should I say an image of the two together, battling to be prime?

 


Moss


Is it enough to call this ‘moss’? Don’t 12,000 different species,

a thousand of those in the UK, justify a little more respect?   



11.09 from Brockenhurst

 

How still can a speeding train get,

abstracted to a filter for a landscape of rail-thin strips?

 




Sign

 

Will they report the certifiable runner

taking photos of nothing and notating the same?




Arch

Why this arch? No other dwelling boasts such pomp -

and that’s sufficed: the setting is determinedly plain.




Scaffold

How high are they going? Don’t they know

that there’s a ‘low’ in ‘bungalow’?


 

 


Carpark

Is lockdown the best time to park?

It would be were there anything to park for…



Bonnet


Have the human and the natural ever achieved such harmony

as when the tops of trees are reflected in a car?



Easter Island

Is this Easter Island? No heads have fallen:

I submit it cannot be.




Drip I

Who’s jumping first?

Not I, says the smallest, I’m frightened.





Drip II

Not I, says the biggest, 

I’d fall too hard.



Drip III

Not I, says the middling drip, 

not every context contains a ‘just right’.




Pool

Light falls… Or does it?

Surely there’s no gravity involved.



Posts

 

I’ve only just noticed that there isn’t a notice or even a noticeboard

on these noticeboard legs. Has a message gone missing as well?

 


Sign

 

What does this mean? No bikes allowed? Beware of bikes?

No parking up the pole? I’ll have to check the Code…

 




New Lines

 

What do you mean? The words may be old

but I promise I never wrote these before.






Ashurst

 

Ashurst in Ashurst? A house name so literal and unimaginitive

it’s turned out to be original.




Hat


Is it true that you lose most heat through the head?

And is that confirmed or refuted by the ice on this hat?





 

Tennis Ball

 

I’ve seen a serve hit the fence round the court 

before it's bounced - but how far out can this mis-hit have sailed?


 


Donkeys

 

What is there to say about donkeys?

They can see all four of their feet at the same time. 


 


White Clouds

 

Why is a this house sign occluded by green?

I could understand grey, if white’s out of order on days like these…




Cook Inside


But who’d cook outside on a day like this,

however they reflected on the pleasures of the barbecue?




Lawn

 

If this is the over made out of the under,

why doesn’t it just collapse?




Frisbee


How much respect is due? Not just the precision of length and direction

but the spin-down on the middle of the pillar that was chosen… 




Shelter


Will this be repaired? I’m hoping not:

the curvature brings a welcome touch of Gehry to the scene.



Window


The inside light illuminates the unlit light without, and I wonder...

have I got the world the wrong way round?  

 

 


Wyndley


What blew this sign down?

Must have been a Hurrycayne of sorts.

 


Palm I


I was about to hand it to this palm

for getting ahead of the climate curve


 


Palm II


but maybe they’ve always grown well around here,

as this other specimen suggests?


 


Cooper

If this were a barrel, what would I say?

That the hoops are loose and the bilge off kilter?



Horses

‘Why the blazes’, asks the bay, ‘haven’t I got a rug?

Does chestnut hair provide less warmth?'




 

Scar


How long has it been since the operation?

Given the length of the laparotomy, I doubt the trauma’s healed.

 


 

Fences

 

What does it take to join the Society of Garden Barriers?

Were I a fence, I’d surely seek such mutual support.




Sign

 

Didn't 'knellers' used to ring the bells?

I like the word, I won’t be told I’m wrong. 





 

Construction

 

Is this designed to corral the leaves?

If so, it isn’t doing very well.




Stoach

You don’t? It’s a dialect word

for mud that’s been trampled by the passage of cows.

 



 

Emergency

 

Has something happened here? I doubt it.

We’re only ever the place on the way.

  


Field

What do I want with a tyre? asks the horse.

What do I want with a horse? asks the tyre.






Thorns

Did I see them? If I had

my leg would not be shown.




Snail

Do they really need to be told to slow down?

Might their shells shake off if they edge over 20 feet per hour? 

 




2 Ashdene Road S/S

 

Where did I find this? Hidden behind a fence

like an innocent garden



Dene Way S/S

 

and then – though they're designed not to be noticed – 

I spotted another



81 Ashdene Road S/S

 

and started to wonder: are there enthusiasts who track sub-stations 

like castles or birds or football grounds?






 Disproportionality

 

Are you seriously suggesting that a post of this substance

is anything close to what this fence requires? 



Construction

 

Is this designed to drain the rain?

If so, it isn’t doing very well.



Notice


Cold caller? By no means -

I’m here to offer some very hot deals!


 

Slark


Really? I’m unshocked: I made up the word

for a verge that’s been slabbed by the parking of cars. 




Anti-slark


Will these prove too modest to deter?

Even on foot I could drive them down.



Seat


Is there a problem with vandalism? Not yet, I suppose:

this is as far as it’s got. 




Anti-slark

 

Now that’s an anti-slark! Could anything more than a bike

or less than a tank disturb this grass? 

 


Palace

Who is in charge of this palace of plastic?

One rather well hidden black cat.





Flag


So what if some matters end up the wrong way round?

No-one denies the job being done.


 


Radiator


Is this the best way to heat the garden? Only, perhaps,

if bringing in rain is the best way to mop the floor.

 



Decorations


December already? I’ve never seen a Christmas pony,

so I guess we were bound to get deer around here.




Berries


Isn’t it odd that nature devised its Christmas decorations

well before Christ's people had evolved?



Bags

 

Why no bins? Perhaps the Council reckons we’ll accumulate less,

not knowing that we’re all binned up inside.




Deerleap Edge


Are they taking the Rudolph?

I mean, how many deer can clear an eight foot wall?



Anti-anti-slark


Can we say it didn't work? Note: I didn't kick it,

I'm not that sadly desperate to be right. 



Culvert I


Is one culvert entrance much like another? 

I do my best to differentiate

 


Culvert II


as a serial refusenik of serial identity,

but it may well be so… 




Fruit


What do you give a tree for Christmas?

I can’t think of anything else. 




SCWW

 

So crusted with winters it’s tricky to read, let alone guess… 

Southampton Corporation Water Works Stop Valve?





SV4

 

‘Stop valves are used to isolate leaks, or in extremis to cut off supplies

while allowing standpipe distribution’. Are we in the relevant extremis?

 



 

Marker post

 

What is the warning? ‘Never presume that the pipeline runs in a straight line

between markers as there could be a bend or the posts may have been moved.’


 


 Sign

 

What does this tell us? That yellow can be

a persistent colour, blocking off data without even being the sun.




Midday

Light falls… Or does it?

Surely there’s no gravity involved.





Pipple

 

What do you call a rather small apple? I’m not sure,

but this house must be named for the seed from which they grow.




Cider Tin 

 

Apple in a holly hedge? I was surprised.

But here’s to the unpredictable – a toast!




Drive


It’s curious that every car is black today.

Or is my photography biased?



Pothole

 

Is this really worthy of being framed –

either by the painter or by me?



Lawn 

How manicured can grass appear

before an AstroTurf suspicion's introduced?




Sign


We're in the New Forest.

What did the signers expect?




Lights


‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ looks like

one question we don’t need to ask.

 

 


Bath


What's the right way up for a bath in a field?

Depends, I guess, on whether you’re riding or washing.

 


Bath


Am I tempted? Little. 

I’m not that sweaty yet. And I’d have to break the ice. 

 


Boat


How does the song go?

Row, row, row your bath, gently round the lawn…



Bear


What a wind that was! Don’t polar bears

have trouble enough with melting ice?



Mitten

Which likkle baby lost a likkle mitten?

And why has it been placed so high, so far from likkle reach?




Time

Is it waiting for a man? 

Not, I suspect, if he's the one under here.



Lamp

What light is thrown on the state of the world?

Any solutions will remain in the limits of the local.



Sign 

Yes, but stop what? The routine of running? The spread

of the virus? The causes of inequality? Or simply these questions? 



Paul Carey-Kent, October-December 2020 


Notes: 

Questions Beyond the Park: During April-September 2020, I ran daily around Ashurst and Colbury Recreation Ground (see the photo-poems 'Isolated Dialogues'). During October 2020 I ran instead around the nearby streets.

Ashurst Close - Ashurst is a village of 2,000, five miles from Southampton and just inside the boundary of the New Forest National Park. There are many bungalows.

Cul-de-sac - It is a measure of Ashurst's residential and retirement character that around half of its roads lead nowhere

Bus Shelter / Tahiti - It's not often you find an art book left in a bus shelter. This one seems bound to contain Gaugin's D'où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous,1897. It seems unlikely, though, that this is the Tahiti in which Gaugin lived in 1890-93 and 1895-1901.

Deerleap Edge - In fact, fallow deer can jump up to six feet high, so the wall is not so out of their range as I had assumed. 

Sign - I later discovered that this was part of the Puddle Jumpers Childminding 'Room on the Broom' Halloween Hunt 

PassageTotton is a perfectly normal town, but by the standards of Ashurst, just a little edgy. 

Sign (bicycle) actually means ‘Route recommended for pedal cycles on the main carriageway’. It is reported that the highway code signs for bicycles are widely misunderstood.

Palace: there is a black cat in front of the black car!

Stoach / Slark -  Slab (slippery mud) and stoach (mud trampled by cattle) are two of the many dialect words for types of mud - others include sleech (mud used for manure), gawm (sticky, foul-smelling mud), slob (thick mud) and stug (watery mud).

October-November 2020 - The question everyone was actually asking was: just how bad is the second wave of Covid-19 going to be?


About Me

My photo
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
I was in my leisure time Editor at Large of Art World magazine (which ran 2007-09) and now write freelance for such as Art Monthly, Frieze, Photomonitor, Elephant and Border Crossings. I have curated 20 shows during 2013-17 with more on the way. Going back a bit my main writing background is poetry. My day job is public sector financial management.

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