This is the disused diving board at Coate Water in Wiltshire. Coate Water is where we may imagine scenes from Richard Jefferies book, Bevis, The Story of a Boy (although the diving board wasnt there then), right next to Jefferies birthplace. This was the inspiration for a poem of mine that recently won second prize in the YorkMix/York Literature Festival Poetry Competition: Richard Jefferies on the Diving Board By 1935, the Art Deco board at Coate Water provided a nationally renowned platform for diving competitions. It is now listed. Its an idyll bequeathed to an edge land, derelict for years, but the ducks love it. Swindon, if it remembers, Sundays out here until the dusk makes it depressing. Time to bed off if youre of the feathered persuasion, though the M4 never sleeps. Through years theyve learnt to live with that, far worse is the bearded ghost that troubles them on full moon nights, him glancing around, then on impulse executing a perfect backwards dive, three point five somersaults in the pike position. Bevis applauding.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 17:50:13 +0000
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