The photograph that goes with this poem is of Island Road, St Ives. My father was born in a house on the right, near where the people are in the photo. When he grew up there, it was full of local families and children. Today nobody lives in either terrace. Every house is a second home or a holiday let.
During lockdown the devastation inflicted by people buying houses and not living in them could be clearly seen. The illusion of a living community created by visitors temporarily staying in these Downlong ‘fisherman’s cottages’ was dispelled. Whole streets were empty for months. Of course, they are almost entirely empty on and off for half the year anyway. See the poem ‘Emmets’ if you would like to read more on this depressing theme…
Sea Views
are the enviable
sea views
this property boasts
close to the famous
Blue Flag beaches
and the galleries’
white cubes
a blank canvas
let me paint it
for you
original features
ready to rip out
to stamp your mark
no onward chain
no strings attached
come and go
as you please
lock up and leave.
And this
is the cemetery
where no one will build
where the dead
won’t trouble you
the ones who lived here
before this view
was enviable
where headstones record
the unrecovered dead
still in the enviable sea
grab your piece
or someone else will.
What more do you want
from a view?
Do you desire it?
Do you love this view?
Marry it then
raise its vagrant children.