Outside Mill at Gatehouse of Fleet

Mark Anthony Carr

so I here, hear this ancient water fall
idyllic in the nowness echoes past toil
all quietness in tranquillity false
air free from smoke, soot ‘n’ clatter
history holds to another tale told
of secret soured class money, so
maybe I, maybe I do be also fooled
history ‘n’ now all call to nothing
but wealth as to insular distain 
the out-outsiders that come ‘n’ go
shadows to souls that also come to went 
in time and time againness till
the next of the next, by on and on
until as bone dust in distant Holy Cairn.

so ancient water still will flow
as to another course, where the
knowing, ‘of course’, plays necessity to
nothingness, and some other me
will be sit-sitting, listening unto
this endlessness falling mill water 
waiting and wondering why tis me?

The Science

This poem was inspired by a visit to the Mill at Gatehouse of Fleet and the cairn at Holy Cairn, both in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The poem reflects on the industrial archaeology undertaken at the mill, linking human activities to the Neolithic chambered tombs a few mills down the road.

The Poet

Principally, Mark is an artist. He has been making and exhibiting art in the UK and abroad since his teenage years, gaining a BA (Hons) Fine Art in 1984 and a MA Fine Art in 1994. Writing has always been a large part of his creative output. He has written children’s stories for use in educational workshops, copy for newspapers and magazines concerning his art practice, and articles for an online walking magazine. More recently (2021) he had a short story published as part of an anthology (Tabula Rasa) through Monnath Books. However, poetry has always been a great calling and emotional outlet in his life, especially over the last 20 years: he self-published an anthology in 2013, entitled Thirteen. He was born and educated in the North East of England where he now lives and works.

Next poem: Relics by Luciana Francis