Through the Lens: ‘LandSea Divide’

Poetry & Photojournalism with Photographer, Writer and Spectator contributor, Nicholas Mackey

LandSea Divide, a Poem

I can be drawn as an ink blacked vein on a map

I can be a healed scar where land once bled

I can be a sea washed oasis, where a universe of imagination dwells.

I can be a space of sorrow, where the ocean’s solemn sighs prevail.

I can hold countless grains of sand, an earthly echo of countless celestial stars

I can convey feelings of wonder, or despair

I can be a pure point of pilgrimage where exuberance of youth can be found

I can speak to your inner soul

I can take your breath away

I can be the divide where shadows of history play on by the water’s edge.

I can be a whispered promise in the light of dawn

I can be a refuge for those fortunate to escape life’s relentless fray

I can be the fracture in time’s fragile spectrum

I can be the end of something, a start of everything

I can receive your footprint in my softness for a spell, yet all must fade away

I can be a haven of peace, harmony, heaven

I can be hell, an inferno of war, discord

I can be a sanctuary from life’s bitter sword

I can be a pulsing border where dreams and nightmares collide

Salt waters, the feet of many, ideas have crossed over me

I can be barren, and forbidding

I can be bursting with vibrant life rhythm, and welcoming

I can be a windswept landmark to the continuance of being

I can vanish in an instant beneath the fury of apocalyptic storms

I can be reborn from sea gouged rocks, almighty forces punishing my imperfections

I can be an endless smoothness of strand stretching back to childhood

I can be a citadel with a lighthouse and those entrusted to watch over us nearby

I can recall thunderous war cries of Romans, Vikings, Saxons and Normans striding through

I can be a resting place for shipwrecks, poor sods drowned and even buried treasure

I like to weave an aura of hope around all those seeking solace

I can be open to elemental dramas, a theatre of waves and living things

I can be witness to chipped away secrets of the past

I have remained a sacred narrow strip fusing fluid motion of the ocean with hard fixed energy of earthly land

What am I?

I am the coast.

Wandsworth, London 1.42pm, Tuesday 26th September 2023

Author’s Notes:

In my view, my poem, 'LandSea Divide' encapsulates everything I have to say about the fascinating theme of 'Coasts'. I wanted to explore the precision of expression that poetry demands in seeking out everything the word, 'Coasts' means to me. So I reached far into my memory, travelling back to childhood and then carefully viewing my past life as if looking at a moving film, picking out elements where the word, 'Coasts' held significance. I recalled the tales I heard down the years associated with that special area where the sea meets the land: the coastline and I availed of these memories and many others when composing this poem. I also wanted to delve into what the word 'Coasts' meant to me historically, such as those millions of Irish people who have emigrated over the years; spiritually, such as how the Irish coastline held special significance in the ancient Celtic world; personally, such as how the many visits I've made to the coast, not only in Ireland but also overseas, have always made a deep impression on me. I even probed my own philosophy on life when writing 'LandSea Divide' as it means so much to me.

There is also something magical about the coast, as I feel an exciting sense of freedom with almighty space around me and I feel young again, I'm a kid dashing through the sand dunes, it's a sunny day and I'm happy and I know it. I then stop and stare at the sea. There is a long sandy beach stretching for miles in either direction on my left and right.

In deference to Keats, I feast my eyes on the wideness of the sea. I feel an inner contentment. As far as other poets who have influenced me: the Roman- tics such as Wordsworth, Clare and Keats of course and then in the 20th/21st century, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver and W. B. Yeats.

I wanted you to know that's why putting this package of mine entitled, 'LandSea Divide' to meet this theme of 'Coasts' for Art Etcetera has been an amazing journey for me of memory and exploration of familiar but also many new creative avenues. It opened up a new universe of thought for me. I have Art Etcetera to thank for that.

More about Nicholas Mackey:

‘In a previous life, as a photojournalist, I’ve contributed to various media here in the UK, including The Times and The Spectator, and also abroad in the Middle East...My artistic outlook is simple. As a photographer, I’m in relentless pursuit of timeless imagery. In response to a lifelong creative streak that bubbles up from somewhere buried deep, I use my camera’.