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In the infant pool multicoloured lights
twinkle under foot –green, violet, blue –
and a baby reaches a plump hand down
through shallow water to touch the stars.
I’ve swum my lengths in the lanes and now
drink coffee and watch as a woman
learns to float in the twenty metre pool.
She lowers herself halfway then jerks
back up, clutching her heart. Her friend
shows her again how to trust in water,
how to let it hold you like a child.
Meanwhile a white-haired woman
riding a swimming noodle like a horse
gently cycles past. Her legs pedal
through the moonish underwater light
with slow pale grace. Now she is doing
calf raises, holding on to the noodle
for balance. Such beauty and perseverance.
Her breasts spilling over the cut of her costume
are buoyed by the water and dancing
by themselves.
I understand the tenderness
of the learner pool, but the building
is beyond me – how it orients south
to optimise warmth, how it captures
and gifts cool to the north-facing gym,
or how the external thermometer
with its exquisite sensors relays data
to the building which then decides
whether to open or close its louvres,
move or store heat – I swear it is a mind
that thinks. It’s been designed to withstand
the next eighty years. And what will you find there,
dear future swimmer? Some of the babies
splashing in the infant pool will perhaps
be doing slow lengths then. Dear ones,
I wish you perseverance and gentle effort.
I wish you health. I wish you love
that responds like this Passivhaus -
that offers to cool or warm according
to your needs; and I will the water
to cradle your future bones while we
who are here now sleep.
Row upon row of silvery-black panels,
tilt toward the house of God
which is the sun.
.
There’s a microscopic world
we can barely even imagine –
blazing photons that stream
across ninety million miles of space
to shower these thin glass planes
with a billion small shocks,
bright abundance that falls
even through cool northern skies,
even on our dullest days –
gold so plentiful we cannot catch it all,
but spread these panels like nets
beneath a tree of golden apricots
or apron-skirts catching yellow windfalls.
And I think of that German fairy tale
of the little orphan girl
who gave away everything she owned –
her loaf of good black bread, her clothes –
until she stood in a dark wood,
not a stitch to cover her nakedness
teeth clattering, praying hard,
who found herself suddenly arrayed
in finest linen, and all around her
falling star-gold – motes
she spread her skirts to catch –
so many coins she never hungered
or was cold again. The poorest countries
are rich in sunshine.
This is what I wish for them.
Always may there be a stand of balsam set back from the river, and a mama beaver emerged from her nest into early dusk, grooming her punky, wicked fur, steeping her tail in the water & eating, the noise of her chomping like kissing; & always her kits will be slipping under the fringe of the willow to reach her, and almost with a sigh, almost with a shrug she’ll turn and waddle up the bank dock a branch and trawl it back to where they bicker & play & feed in their recess of water & reed; & the bliss of their dwelling will rest on the evening, it is here.
Come iris, come moor grass, come sphagnum and sedge, come water mint growing round the beaver-lawn’s edge; come aspen, come willow, come guelder, come hazel, come hawker, come mayfly, come blue demoiselle; come otter, come bubble-mouse, water vole and shrew, come pearl-bordered fritillary and silver studded blue; come yellow hammer, warbler, come dipper and teal, come stone loach, come stickleback, lamprey and eel, come spangled reed beetle supping air through a straw for the river keeper is returned once more.
vi Heartsong
Always may there be a stand of balsam set back from the river, and a mama beaver emerged from her nest into early dusk, grooming her punky, wicked fur, steeping her tail in the water & eating, the noise of her chomping like kissing; & always her kits will be slipping under the fringe of the willow to reach her, and almost with a sigh, almost with a shrug she’ll turn and waddle up the bank dock a branch and trawl it back to where they bicker & play & feed in their recess of water & reed; & the bliss of their dwelling will rest on the evening, it is here.
Watch as they re-meander the straitened river rewet the meadow till it is part mire a mosaic of pond and bog and cropped beaver-lawn; river keepers thinning the wood letting the light back in.
Watch as they re-meander the straitened river rewet the meadow till it is part mire a mosaic of pond and bog and cropped beaver-lawn; river keepers thinning the wood letting the light back in.
water is a shapeshifter
that can brim ooze weep
percolate through stone
that drips trickles evaporates
into invisible air
hard to catch
impossible to corral
yet this is our vocation –
to keep a fluid steadiness
in the lush & green-shoot places –
& water is all our husbandry:
how to dam & brace
how to shore it up with sticks & stones & mud
whatever we can find
old fenceposts, bricks
we cross-weave daub & fix
impound the water
do not let it run
Water shaman; double-lidded, double-lipped,
back toes webbed like a bat’s black wing.
It combs perfumed oil through its deep dark coat
with a special split toe. It must have a moat.
It must have a lodge piled high with sticks and mud
and inside it, a nest of dry shredded wood.
It must have a shallow pool so the kits can learn to swim
and an underwater tunnel to enter the lodge unseen.
To fell a tree, you must have a reinforced skull
& ferrous, orange teeth.
To survive, you must have foresight & stealth.
I tutored you, woodsman. I showed you how
to coppice & thin, how to ford a stream.
I taught the engineer to dam, & terrace, & sluice,
I taught the salmon to leap & the willow to shoot.
I owe you nothing. You made me extinct.
Now I’m teaching you how to come back from the brink.
River rats, Coptic dogs, driven from the demesnes and wapentakes hunted par force in the waterways with dogs and traps and clubs; good money paid for their pelt’s stiff hair and voluptuous underfur; the sensuous elixir of their castoreum, its scent of vanilla, chypre and plum; their paddle-tail’s backcountry fat, and their sweet red Lenten meat. Two pence bounty paid in Bolton Percy Church for the last beaver’s head. How often do we get the chance to try again?
Render unto the sea what belongs to the sea: give her back her nurseries the sheltered grassy places where a seahorse might court where a pipefish might thread the translucent ribbon of its tail. Down into pewter broken water drop the hessian bags, the tenderly raised seedlings – bed them in, lay the ground for underwater prairies and pray - that the wild herds come to grasp at sea grass, graze on plankton – for shy digestive tubes to populate the silt – for the shimmy of dorsal fins in the tangled meadow, with their precarious games of hide and seek, the electric dappled fry; and at last for the stalked jellyfish to extend its starry crown – as in the old days we made the gods a little house or shrine & timidly but inevitably they came.

“From making the most of our existing growing spaces, to our programmes to retrofit homes, develop cycling and walking routes and a new solar farm, we are working to tackle the climate emergency. By 2030 we need to have done much more. We need everyone to help to take action, large or small. For Torbay Council this map of suggested walking routes is a great way of showing how tackling climate change might help Torbay Thrive, visualising our ambition in an easy-to-understand format, and inviting people to get out and discover for themselves what is happening and what more might be done.” – Jacqui Warren, Climate Emergency Officer, Torbay Council

Exeter is blessed to be surrounded by green fields, many producing amazing organic produce. There is also a great network of footpaths, bridle paths and green lanes to be explored. Everyone knows that fresh organic produce, exercise, fresh air and fine company are good for you, so why not combine all four?
“At Mincing Lake Apples we love the idea of people walking out to the farm, including it in their daily activity, supporting local farmers and actually seeing where we cultivate our local produce.” –Â Gill Baker, Mincing Lake Apples

“The illustration shows green initiatives Brixton already has in place, as well as ways they can build on those. It features wildflower verges and trees for the Queen’s Canopy planted by the ‘Bee Wild’ environment group; the rewilding of the old Cofflete Mill site owned by the Parish, to increase biodiversity and conserve the surrounding natural habitats; Southwest Composting – a project that now not only processes all of South Hams Green waste, but also provides a community composting facility for all Parishioners. The map reflects the walking routes and development of active travel routes featuring Silverbridge Way, and work done to establish links to neighbouring areas.
The map also makes its way through Brixton’s aspirations: it includes the solar farm at Gentian Hill and raises the possibility of increasing solar capacity with discreet installations in both residential and community settings; vehicle charging points; improving cycle routes to reduce car usage; edible borders. The map uses the idea of walking to educate people on how they can play their part in building a natural and sustainable environment for future generations to enjoy, whilst keeping the rural community feel that makes Brixton Parish the chosen place for so many to live in.” – Stuart Nix, Brixton Parish Council


This lively illustration includes a repair cafe, a clothes swap, an apple press and a bike repairer, electric charging points, an allotment with children harvesting vegetables, and fruit trees. Flowering plants enhance the biodiversity of the community areas and reflect the aspiration of the Bee-wild conservation group in the village to create more pollinator-friendly habitats.

At the focal point of this Vision is Wembury Beach and the Mewstone: a marine conservation area and the home of a water sampling citizen science project where the stream flows onto the beach. This location is a focus for public engagement with the natural world, biodiversity and further citizen science via a variety of organisations such as the National Trust and Devon Wildlife Trust, as well as local community events such as those organised by Wembury Environment Group, the Primary School and the Sailing Club.

This Vision has as its centre the church and the Mewstone. The 8 images orbiting it embody the variety of carbon net zero initiatives happening locally with Wembury Environment Group but also individual householder actions:

This illustration reflects the centrality of the river to this beautiful location. Inset vignettes reflect some of the hopes and aspirations of the local people Phil engaged with when drafting. They depict: an electric water taxi; tree planting; increased use of cycles; and a rewilding of road verges.





