Jerriais Seascape (#6)

[S H L G Bisson]

Going Home: Winter Flight, Air UK F27.

The 'plane descends
as an incoherent tannoy
babbles of temperature and times.
The sea of cloud gives way
to a sea of water
green and angry,
broken by grey pink granite.

Sark below.
A patchwork of fields:
Bocage, hedges and lanes
and the odd farmhouse.
Back over sea
(speed dropping,
and grip the arms
of your chair)
- bump, bump
- it's only turbulence
and the sea waits
green and angry,
broken by grey pink granite.

The headland
topped by russet bracken
passes below
(the white dots are gulls
disturbed by turboprops).
The island stands alone
against the sea
and the sky.
Bouley Bay:
A few houses,
a pub, a white hotel
and a pier.
The harbour shelters
fishing boats and yachts,
as white horses stampede
over the sea,
wave hooves ready
to hammer and wreck.

The 'plane banks,
and depending
where the seat is,
a view of grey sky
or fields:
Fields covered
in plastic sheets
(protecting the Royals,
potatoes snug in bed.)
that look like ice
or regular lakes.

And the 'plane descends
to its concrete harbour
over twisting valleys
and narrow roads.
- clunk,clunk
- it's the wheels
and the island waits
green and angry,
broken by grey concrete.
- bump, bump
- it's down now
and the island waits
green and open,
Home.

[Yet another "Cultural and Pronunciation Note":
1) Air UK: a British regional feeder airline, with old planes and relatively
cheap fares (BA Heathrow - Paris approx 99 pounds, BA Heathrow - Jersey
approx 120 pounds, Air UK Southampton - Jersey approx 80 pounds)
2) Bocage: style of agriculture in North West France and the Channel Islands,
characterised by small raised fields and narrow lanes between them.
3) Bouley Bay: pronounced "bully", a small cove on the North coast of Jersey
and its associated hamlet and small harbour.
4) Royals: the Jersey Royal is a variety of new (early) potato, with a sweet
flavour, that appears about a month before the UK early crop. However,
imports from Cyprus and Egypt have affected the early potato market in the
UK, and local farmers cover the fields in bio-degradable polythene sheeting
that acts as cloching for the potatoes, encouraging early growth, and acting
as protection from frost.
5) The route of the aircraft is that taken in a westerly wind...]

--
Simon H. Le G. Bisson |Tel +44 225 826826 x 4020
School of Electrical Engineering |UUCP: ...!uunet!mcvax!ukc!gdr!eesshlgb
Bath University, Claverton Down |ARPA: eesshlgb%gdr.bat...@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Bath, Avon, England. |"Imagination and dreams are our true key."

[Niel M. Bornstein]

sizzling, resonantly
hear the overtones?
fluttering, gliding what day?
watch this move!
quickly, crouching what town?
backwards!?!
power, intensity which stadium?
applause
when can i sleep?

July 20, 1990
--
Niel M. Bornstein -- graduate student, musician, arctic explorer, and beer user
gt6...@prism.gatech.edu Georgia Tech College of Management
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