'Driftwood by Starlight' in Cornwall: (1) Cadgwith

 

Photo: David Gill

 

My first full poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight, was published a few days before David and I headed off to Cornwall, the setting for a number of the poems in the book.

The photograph above shows me on the foreshore at Cadgwith, a small cove on The Lizard peninsula that holds a special place in my heart. I have known and loved this area virtually all my life.

Cadgwith appears on the front cover of my book, thanks to the wonderful night-time photography of Laurence Hartwell of Through the Gaps (thank you, Laurence). What you may, or may not, have noticed is that, serendipitously, there is a boat behind my left shoulder in the photograph above called 'Starlight'. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

 

My love affair with Cadgwith came about as a result of a poem by Lionel Johnson, which intrigued and entranced my father, and made him keen to discover the cove for himself back in the 1960s. I quote part of Johnson's poem in the book.  

 

Cadgwith at low tide, from The Todden

Driftwood by Starlight was published in June 2021 by poet and publisher, Peter Thabit Jones, at The Seventh Quarry Press. Many, but not all, of the poems have coastal settings. In addition to Cornwall, these include Wales (I lived in Swansea for 20 years), Scotland (home to ancestors on my mother's side) and Suffolk (where I live now). If you would like to purchase a copy (£6.99 UK price), please click this link to The Seventh Quarry Shop (online).