lengths and ends: six poems for Penzance

This booklet is an outcome of my Weekender residency in Penzance, July 13th to 15th 2012. The Weekender residencies are imagined and supported by CAZ (Cornwall Autonomous Zone), the artchild of Rebecca Weeks and Ian Whitford.

I spent time over that weekend at the Penlee Bowling Club (between Penzance and Newlyn), and at the Jubilee Pool. The texts and images developed from notes I made, conversations with lots of different people, observations of the two sites, swimming, and learning something of how to play bowls. The booklet is: 16pages,  85 x 210 mm, folded and stapled, and has 6 poems and 6 images; it is published in a numbered edition of 100.

from ‘lengths and ends’:

Crawl

finning,
lower body in,
turns for,
a scooping lifting move of the hand towards the body
in women,
arm held out from body with hand open and flat indicating distance as height
oxygen and,
stimulation and,
both arms raised bent at the elbow and with the index finger pointing up
Breathing in,
for ocean swimming,
kick for,
Olympic form,
upper body in,
bringing both hands up to chest
in breaststroke,
in the crawl stroke,
water pressure and,
    See also Oxygen
holding hands up with palms facing and moving them towards each other
for sinkers,
left arm extended with index finger pointing out and down
lack of,
of salt water,
    See also Flotation techniques
the hand is brought to the opposite shoulder and tapped or slapped
breathing and,
kick in,
turns for,
upper body in,
a scissors movement of the arms across the lower body