New Inn Circumambulations #1
From a stump near a curb
The brook finds its way
Through a shape I am skirting
Like a pilgrim at Mount Kailash
Where Kitty in her croft
Would gaze up at the heavens
As her boots beat the bounds
Of a life she'd made her own
Where pylons now stride
Over unbroken land
Towards the power plant clouds
Rising high above the Quay
Where the runnel runneth deep
And these penitent knees
Buckle under the weight
Of someone else's sin
Where will the brook go
And what will it be
When it slips into the Wepre
When it drains into the Dee
I am marking boundaries
Like Kitty in her fields
I am fraying at the edges
Circling backlands in the rain
February 2025
Beginning at ///ramp.nanny.removing and ending near ///surgical.video.freezers, New Inn Circumambulations #1 is a circular walk, poem and a beating of the bounds of a territory surrounding the New Inn Brook in Ewloe, Flintshire. The work is presented as part of long-standing research into the spatial anthropology of the Dee Estuary.
The video + poem were created in response to a call for contributions inspired by the ancient Roman festival of Terminalia which was held in honour of the god Terminus, who presided over boundaries. Contributors were invited by artist curator Kel Portman to submit images and words that reflected the notion of boundaries, whether physical, metaphorical or personal. Terminalia 2025, including New Inn Circumambulations #1, can be viewed here.
