{"id":2524,"date":"2023-01-24T23:30:18","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T23:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2023-11-12T11:31:44","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T11:31:44","slug":"desert-dust-firebirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=2524","title":{"rendered":"Desert Dust : Dark Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-soundcloud wp-block-embed-soundcloud\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Desert Dust by TRAILER STAR\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1431677689&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=960&#038;maxwidth=640\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Desert Dust started out as a poem about Spain as part of a sequence originally published in Fire Magazine read here: <br><a href=\"\nhttp:\/\/poetrymagazines.org.uk\/magazine\/record6911-2.html?id=9510\"><br>http:\/\/poetrymagazines.org.uk\/magazine\/record6911-2.html?id=9510<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4. BRIDGE OF STONE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five years ago we slid across this bridge at dawn<br>after a long hot drive from Barcelona.<br>I kept waking up on the back seat to see factories<br>flaring orange against the black hills.<br>As we entered Zaragoza I saw the basilica lit up<br>by floodlights that caught the dust swirling in from the desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I woke with that dust in my teeth, sweating<br>whilst you lay there perfectly cool and calm.<br>We carry our countries in our blood, habits, instincts<br>that carry us back to the same places in our dreams.<br>Now I catch you sleeping again; winter, the Ebro rising,<br>I\u2019m not sweating but still the air here tastes different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every winter for five years we have swung back across the bridge<br>circling your past through the sparkle of christmas lights.<br>Words have crept into my vocabulary as I struggle with Spanish<br>but I still get caught like an uprooted tree on the double r\u2019s,<br>tongue snagged against the bridge supports whilst you sail away<br>floating on the native rhythm of your language as I submerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I stare at the back of another car doused with torrents of rain<br>as tail-lights burn in the wet roads and palm trees swirl.<br>I stare at the roads as they flood easily,<br>a summer\u2019s dust and dirt clogging the drains.<br>When we met I was washed away on a torrent of affection.<br>Now we stand on the bridge five years on<br>wind catching dust, staring into a flood that moves beneath us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image.png?resize=341%2C341&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2534\" width=\"341\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image.png?w=700&amp;ssl=1 700w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image.png?resize=676%2C676&amp;ssl=1 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trailerstar.bandcamp.com\/album\/moon-over-the-downs\">https:\/\/trailerstar.bandcamp.com\/album\/moon-over-the-downs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then it shapeshifted into a lovely track by Diana Derby on the Trailer Star tribute<\/p>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/trailerstar.bandcamp.com\/track\/desert-dust\">https:\/\/trailerstar.bandcamp.com\/track\/desert-dust<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now it here&#8230;..version numero 3 based on an Englishman&#8217;s attempt to deal with the Monegros desert&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>It is said that this territory was once covered by dense forests through which squirrels could cross the country from one end to the other.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now it is desert dust mostly&#8230;.no squirrels<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>THE SPANISH SQUIRREL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tributaries of Ebro splash through pines,<br>sand-filled water tumbling by roots<br>as winter sunlight, bright as an English spring,<br>dazzles through the Parque Grande fountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Re-treading your past like a pond-skater,<br>spinning around your city, dizzy with language,<br>I skitter past a bronze statue<br>of an open-mouthed singer I\u2019ve never heard of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grass recovering from the last scorching summer<br>it is still the greenest space in your parched birthplace.<br>Spawned amidst a tangle of Thames Valley woods<br>where even in summer drenched fern steams<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I find it hard to take in this dryness.<br>A dust-blown treelessness that surrounds us.<br>But amidst the burning sands and buckling rails<br>the white tracks of the possible extend links<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">that spread below our circling plane<br>like cow-spittle dripping away from the water-trough.<br>Below us sheep and goats cloud remote paths<br>and baking lorries glint on the auto-pista.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From up here the green of the river-plain<br>is as snicked and trim as any suburban privet.<br>Beyond the treeless desert and mountains<br>I think of that squirrel, caught mid-air forever,<br>never landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>(Fable has it that Spain was once so densely wooded that<br>a squirrel could cross the country jumping from tree to tree.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/flin.jpg?w=676\" alt=\"flin.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>FARM HAND\u2019S RADIO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poems 1996 \u2013 2000 OXFORD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>dedicated to Ivo Charles Belcher (1932-2004)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-shaun-belcher wp-block-embed-shaun-belcher\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"sVgu0huIJ8\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?page_id=117\">Farm-Hand&#8217;s Radio &#8211; 1996-2000<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Farm-Hand&#8217;s Radio &#8211; 1996-2000&#8221; &#8212; SHAUN BELCHER WRITES\" src=\"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?page_id=117&#038;embed=true#?secret=XBNqtRx0sC#?secret=sVgu0huIJ8\" data-secret=\"sVgu0huIJ8\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Desert Dust started out as a poem about Spain as part of a sequence originally published in Fire Magazine read here: http:\/\/poetrymagazines.org.uk\/magazine\/record6911-2.html?id=9510 4. BRIDGE OF STONE Five years ago we slid across this bridge at dawnafter a long hot drive from Barcelona.I kept waking up on the back seat to see factoriesflaring orange against the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[115,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dark-weather","category-eco-writing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6nhh-EI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2524"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2891,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions\/2891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}