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Jane Routh

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Magma Showcase: Jane Routh

Teach Yourself Mapmaking

I shall need a small boat – not too heavy –
with an outboard and lugsail and oars;
two boathooks and a leadline (the coast
is what I’ll like most). If it is possible
let her be clinker-built and painted yellow.

I shall need many large sheets of paper.
Pencils. Notebooks. A house on the shore.
I should like it to be traditional, its back
to the wind and a window to watch the tides.
Remember not to show me a map.

If you cannot find me an island
a peninsula will do, but not too large.
Do not mention its shape. If it has hills
that are too high or too rough
I shall leave them blank.

It will be best if you take me there
in the dark. Unload well-being on the beach.
They say illness is a dream of contrary;
remembered, it can do no harm.
Dare it to stalk me there.

I’m thinking of the depth of an inlet,
an outcrop of rock, the track
that stoats and foxes use
– but none will have names
unless I walk out in the morning

and record my own history over theirs.
Why go so far, if that is all?
The island will define itself.
I will use my own name
once, and write it small.

It will take as long as it takes.
When you come to collect me
you can bring your map and compare
mine. An aerial view will be interesting;
mine is ground level.

Page(s) 37

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