Dawn of Day on minor road to east—easy parking in unused gate entrance. Very much stands on its own with extensive views all round. Started at the entrance to Dawn of Day at Cross Ash. Nice gentle climb up the edge of fields to trig point. Would be fine views on a clear day but somewhat hazy today. From start of drive to dawn of day which i thought was going to be a sculpture. Walked up drive to Dawn of the Day, realised mistake and restarted on footpath on south side of their fence. Sign hidden in hedge IIRC. Operated SOTA from near the weather station. From east on FP by entrance to ‘DOW’ then left and followed fence to top and trig point. great views in all directions. From minor road to East, ROW past The Dawn of Day. Walk up field, through wood and across pasture. Fabulous views with plenty of bluebells
about midday
I turn on
myself. Heat
clingfilms
a band
of air
on the hill.
What I saw
was maybe
nothing
else but
reversed
the unfinished
state
in which spring
leaves
the air
between
branches
too
Parked on wide verge of minor road to W. (SO39567 20951)—Crossed road, climbed stile and took footpath up to stile into woods—Up through woods & across sheep pasture to trig point. (PM) Parked at 395210. An eventual ascent east into the woods before meeting atrack through the forest. I turned left for a short distance before heading up through the coniferous trees to the open top. With GB. 6/7 Park to west at bend in road and follow track up steep slopes to forest.
whiten
I decline, polite
to acknowledge
like a bell that doesn’t strike
imperfect
elaborate
and forget
In forest head to right off track to top cross fence to trig pillar After an interesting stay in the Hope and Anchor at Ross on Wye, (great breakfast but the accommodation block has sloping floors and the external walls have several cracks) we were hoping for the weather to improve. Rain had stopped but still very foggy so I cant say much about this one as we couldn’t see further than 20m
Thursday
I tried to delete
a speck of soup
on the screen
many-bonneted foxglove
like a cloud of future garments
down the steepest
invisible staircase
beneath flattened early evening
petri-dishy sky says
this page pre changes
has “finger-like” for the ease
with which a flower of
digitalis purpurea
can be fitted over a human
fingertip
My thoughts about boats
are boats
Started up path from west. From Grosmont village. Followed paths through fields and a wood to the east of the summit. Took a sneaky shortcut through a field with no ROW to pick up the path up the ridge to the summit. Back via the track through the forest. As per David Gradwell route—straightforward through pasture and woodland higher up. From road junction, up and down via three castle way. Up ProW to side of Dawn of Day for SOTA with Geoff Fielding. Up from layby in Cross Ash. Nice views towards Abergavenny. Bit hazy, but lovely views of Sugar Loaf, Blorenge and Skirrid. Need to find a route through the conifers to get to the summit, but possible. Followed the 3 castles walk over the hill Climbed from the eastern side. Straightforward. up track past house to domed top – mind the dogs! With Shaun Whittaker.
starts snow
ing—sort
of emptily—
minor explosion
at the vowel
factory—
never liked
these things
so much
as now
they’re in
my mouth—rain
in the valleys—snow
on the peak
More drops from nose.
Nausea plateaus.
And breathing out
the grain of
the wood of
the air
radiant with imaginary jewels
like a person listening closely
January falls on the roof that isn’t there
In 1802 March 3rd was a Wednesday.
Like ribbons of toothpaste from a tube.
Seems like I’m heading south.
o
never liked such
ow they’re in my mouth
Parked at 249 junction and took path through field and into wood to track. Walked S then straight up through wood to open summit field. Dry, good views. Lots of bluebells in wood. Finished 16:50 Parked on rough verge at SO 39572 20924. Public footpath through fields to stile at edge of wood. Steep section to track in wood. Turned right then left on small path to open fields. Turned left to stile then diagonally across sheep pasture to trig. From SW in the early morning dew. Took a direct route up from the east having parked opposite the entrance to Dawn of Day Cottage.
. . . in Nash’s photo of the Abbey
it’s seventeen ninety eight,
my forehead’s imprint on the window
slowly becoming visible. In
its 1939, and the leaves
in the foreground obscure where
the Abbey meets the earth, as though it
had floated free of its age
or descended momentarily
to give instruction to what
shall I call you. I don’t know if con
cealing the join between earth and
building points to an old desire
to float free of history
or in floating free gestures better
toward what is excluded from the
image, but the word wavers between
a noun and a verb. The night
you were born I imagined I saw
the time after you before
you arrived in the poem I pour
my ill-fitting poem into,
breaking the banks of the river the
train passes a splayed mirror beneath
toward the sky, a field . . .
Boring climb but nice views from the top and very moody with black clouds building up to the N. At gateway saying ‘Dawn of Day Cottage’. Good track up hill into open field with trig at top. Space to park on minor road at bottom of ROW near 249 spot height. Approached from SW via two fields then through woods and into top field to bag top and trig point. Good views today in moody weather. Great views. A good example of how nice a Marilyn can be.
A log cabin
in the shopping centre
impenitent
as the weather
vanishing behind the words for it
pip pip
the Bay of Fundy
plain as pain
in its element
Parked at 249. Accessed from the SW, good views on a dry sunny morning. Pleasant stroll—lots of mist and saw nothing. Absolutely fantastic panoramic views all the way around.I wish i lived in that bungalow near the top
face down
to the ground
panoramic views all the way around
but I was talking about trains
how they facilitate collaboration, that it
is impossible to tell which poet wrote which line
which is a line, of course, I can tell, or I think
outside the window it’s 1965
and that to be stationary and in motion at once
I say, in my first lecture, which is my interview presentation regurgitated
is what reading is like, how time is layered
into the paint. In the lecture
the poet died, and I didn’t know him well enough
but I can, just from the little inflections
catch myself completing the sentence
incorrectly: but that’s not where I was
going in the dark, in the poem
it’s possible to see one poet teaching the other
to look out of the window, to say
did you really understand what I meant by that
never lied
the thin
snow its in my
moth
Started at 7.10 am from just south of the 249m spot height on the minor road. Up via the footpath managing to slip of stile and gash my leg good start. Trig found easily despite low level cloud. Having seen Robin nr Oxford after his climbing accident with broken legs (now mended) drove to Ross on Wye—slept in car, up at 6.30 am—lovely sunrise Up through fields and wood to summit. Drove back t Sheffield. Full of cold
There I am
my little dick
tickling a theramin
watching the little sails (?)
on the glossy horizon
(“the horizon of
glossolalia”)
come in.
Is what already
it day
hill
even weather skim-reads
550′ up over sheep pastures and into wood. Extensive felling made for a vigorous scramble over fallen boughs and debris to grassy dome. Date is first visit. Notes from later…messy route but pleasant hill (albeit in mist & near-dark). fp from 396209, find way thru conifers to summit pasture From SW via woods. Turnips in field @ top. Small bagging trip with brother, we made it a leisure drive for Mom as well. Parked at space on minor road at bottom of ROW near pt. 249m, up ROW from there and to trig point in pasture, just of ROWs. Cloudy, fair views. Did Garway Hill, just 6 km away,after lunch. Superb views all round—Malverns, Bredon Hill, Black Mountain, Abergavenny 3 Peaks, Cleeve Hill & Mendips all visible from trig point in middle of field (S6428) Missed footpath sign and ended up outside bungalow where we were confronted by owner. We explained our error and we were redirected back to the road and the path which runs parallel with the driveway to the aforementioned bungalow. Otherwise, no problem other than summit in cabbages. Up here in the snow
New York, 11 June 2016
__________________________________
From Blotter. Used with permission of the publisher, Carcanet. Copyright © 2018 by Oli Hazzard.
Oli Hazzard
Oli Hazzard is the author of Between Two Windows, for which he received the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize and a 2013 Eric Gregory Award. His most recent book is Blotter. He teaches at the University of St Andrews.
