Shunning capital letters and punctuation, Penelope Shuttle’s poem weaves not only through the Cornish countryside but the landscape of the past with a terse vividness. The piece comes from the popular poet’s new collection, Will You Walk a Little Faster? (Bloodaxe Books, £9.95). Lewis Carroll’s porpoise and snail are alluded to in the title poem!
LITTLE BUS
Route 35
The little bus
buzzes
through the backlands
workplaces
and farms
a wooden house here
a breezy bridge there
steep and turning hills
wind-y narrow road
making cars
reverse
and respect the bus
respect
there’s that apple tree lane
we used to park up by
the gate with the iron dove
daffodil or cabbage fields
the stony path
to Maenporth
the unforgotten years
are there
and the end of them
that’s there too
the bus skirmishes on
through Bareppa
where the flock of geese were
long ago
now I see one
by the stream
then we press on
to Helford Passage
where the river
tugs at its own heartstrings
to this very day
if you get my drift
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