Viewpoint

By: Roger Hansford

                               We’re asking everyone to leave 
                               their umbrellas, and carry their rucksacks.

                               How strange to protect from us
                               this room awash with the boiling
                                         of Atlantic froth in oils.

                               This floor might be a swinging 
                               timber deck, but in gallery heat 
                               and light we can linger for perspective.

                               Looking south, looking west
                               from this dark peninsula
                               I have seen these waves,
                               seen the stern lights trailing - 
                               cove-sheltered - in water’s canvas.

                                         Why do we come? I ask.
                               I know it’s because of the frame:
                               step inside, and I am the artist.

                               The Newlyn painters
                                     have re-framed 
                               my Cornish seascapes.
                               I leave today’s best shelter, 
                               tackle the rainstorm with new eyes.