In this post we see the river through the experience of Tony Davis, an Oxfordshire artist, poet and fisherman. Tony was inspired to write the poem Auguries of iciness after seeing the 'baubles' created by willow ends dipping in the icy Cherwell in the very cold spell in December. We also publish his moving poetic response to the poisoning of our rivers in Stop All the Locks.
Auguries of iciness*
To see the World all dewy-paned
And Heaven in an hour
By Cherwell’s bank with hoar frost stained
Glass bauble for a flower
Willow’s loom, a lattice made
Above the Water’s skin
Woven threads in brightened shade
A forming jewel within
Far below the chub and trout
in wonderment they gaze
With wordless voice: ‘Look’ they shout
Swim water-bound, amaz’d
The Tit, a Moorhen, and Old Jack
All flap in raptured dream
As all the brightest orbs astack
Above the Cherwell stream
Otter, stoat, and muntjac tell
The words of Winter’s song
Woodpecker plays transparent bell
As river flows along
It’s warmer now, the baubles hang
Reflecting light and sound
Each drip of ice a lasting pang
Of memory to ground
© 2022 Tony Davis
* Like many continually inspired by the multi-faceted creative and visionary explorations of William Blake - I live by this quote... I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
Ice bauble photographs: Kath Fotheringham
"Like many people I've become incandescent at the liberties taken in our name, with our money, paid regularly to the UK's water companies. This poem is the first verbal shot across the bows of their boats, cruising nonchalantly through mess of their own making in our rivers."
Stop All the Locks – River Thames *
Stop all the locks, and stem the River’s flow
Prevent the frogs from larking in what they cannot know
Silence all the warblers, choke the roach and bream
Fill it all with sewage now, the tributary and stream
Restless birds are circling, with nowhere safe to feed
All of this to satisfy your Corporation’s greed
Nature now is watching you, as she slowly dies
The water vole and curlew, can you hear their cries?
Stash the boat and fishing rod, the water wings, canoe
This water, once a haven, not safe, for me, for you
The children cannot paddle here, dip water with their toes
And in the silent shallows, water boatman no longer rows
The reed mace, and the rushes here, now wither far from green
As browny sludge and algal blooms now dominate the stream A dragonfly’s mistaken what’s sticking out of mud
And lays her precious tiny eggs upon a cotton bud
The shallowness of gravel once filled with fishes' eggs
Now lifeless and particulate, a mess of floating dregs
The food chain has been broken, the caddis fly’s no more
All that’s left is greyness, we lay this at your door
Though every household pays you, to manage, clean and fix
Our water, waste and outflows, yet still you play your tricks
Financial orchestration, the substance of receipts
To move our funds to dividends and manage your deceipts
So who are your investors? Where is their domicile?
Do they live next door to us within this Sceptr’d Isle?
We think that so unlikely, more that they’re all off-shore,
Extracting too much profit, to leave our Rivers poor
It’s time for some accountancy, perhaps an AGM?
To give us explanations, from where decisions stem
Let’s meet your truest shareholders, and have them take the floor
Let them ask the questions, they number by the score
Up first, the water-crowfoot, her flowers like a mat
The most diverse of fishes enjoyed her habitat
“I need the freshest water, why can’t you keep it clean?”
The bed where all my roots should lie – the dirtiest I’ve seen”
The mayfly and the caddis, the flatworm, midge, and mite
The water shrimp and damsel, are here to join the fight
Invertebrate ecology, it needs the clean, the fresh
Not soaked with fecal coliforms, bad-filtered through a mesh
Let’s not forget the creatures, of feathers and of beak
They all deserve protection from persistence of your leaks
Heron, Coot, and Mallard, the names of just a few
How can they breed and multiply amongst this rancid stew?
Wind whispers in the willows, about a corporate thief
And Ratty, Toad and Badger now share collective grief
Whilst Otter’s gone a-hunting for non-existent fish,
Mole no longer burrows, and reeds no longer swish
We can’t splash about in shallows, E. Coli for a friend
You claim all this is ‘Legal’, the ‘Rules’ for you to bend
Wild swimming isn’t sensible, because to our dismay
We float along with pathogens, Hepatitis C or A
Dendritic networked freshness should feed into our Thames
Map-drawn in lines of blueness, a thick, wet thread of friends:
“The Cole, the Leach and Windrush, the Evenlode and Pang
The Cherwell, Thame and Kennet” the gathered naiads sang
Each join and add their offerings, fresh sky-fall and the rest
The Mole, the Rythe and Hogsmill, should be amongst the best
The Wandle now meanders, and Tyburn’s underground,
Why ruin this potential when richness can abound?
But rivers are not wanted now; so squander every one
Pack away the willow trees, dismantle all the fun
Pour away the chalk streams, scrape water meadows clean
For nothing shows that’s pleasant now, in fabled lands of green
The limestone and the chalk stream, the trout that gasp for air
Every single life form, deserves your greatest care
So time to issue notice, however much you howl
We’re side by side with Nature, and standing cheek by jowl
© 2022 Tony Davis
* I wanted some of the sadness and loss evoked by Auden, and the rhythm of his Funeral Blues. Stop all the Locks is much longer because there’s so much to say and do.
Nature photography: Darrin Roles
See more about Tony's poems and artwork at http://artmeetstony.com