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3-D Polytunnel Protocol by Amanda Attfield

Breathing Space by Amanda Attfield

Radar Logic by Amanda Attfield

Poetry by Amanda Attfield ©

Radar Logic

Breathing Space

You can’t argue with weather watchers,
their dead certainty that rain will come
or this cloud will do that, resolve itself
or become more than it is, just as people
do, or that workers need shelter,
you can’t argue with that, it makes sense
they should not work in rain, and sheer
logic of it makes ploughed fields and
furrows shine that it should have beenRadar Logic by Amamda Attfield
thought of, so it should be as birds
wing in sky windows and gulls crack
on breeze, and cry no one is at risk,
no one is at risk, for fifty tonnes
a day needs undercover, yes
undercover, stay out but be not in
or part of the elements, carry on
with all as it is or would be, as
clouds do, or wind but do not be
shaped by them or grow tall and
bend as trees do, be under weather
watchers and their
certainty or
when lightening
will
come.

 The music is dog bark, bird song, bee’s wing.
Thistles and waist high cow parsley,
and apples are dressed in their best, ready
for someone’s wedding, funeral, christening.
No one seems to mind a white and pink
dress code. Only the red beaked rooster
has dressed for death. At the back
of Peg’s bungalow, firs bristle and,
shove out their war medals. They’re ready
to go in, just waiting for the nod. A kind neighbour
has clipped away clouds, trimmed the breeze,Breathing Space by Amanda Attfield
turned down the thunder. The local picture
framer has added head high hazel and
a steel blue sky. Something smells here.
A hundred years of all things, things absent,
buried and exhumed. No one thought to tidy
the wild geranium, or wash the bramble and borage,
all now tangled together in their slow rush
across the small, square plot. Let’s not go in.
Let’s not record this place. It’s owned by
someone else. The lady with a labrador
scythed her arm through the air. All these trees
will go now, of course. Over the road
a project has parachuted in an army
of new planted apples. An old man sits
by a grave in St Michael’s and All Angels.
Let’s not record it. No one takes photographs at funerals.

Polytunnel Protocol

A few words from the poet, Amanda Attfield
3-D Polytunnel Protocol by Amanda AttfieldThey must always be long and thin,
lie side by side, and be lots of them,
a multiple marriage of long things
requiring an emperor size bed, and

yes, you can get duvets that big,
yes – you can. They must have
maximum visual impact, startle the
eye, produce an ‘Oh my God! What’s that?’

reaction, or result in at least five claims of
‘It’s an eyesore’. Soft fruit at the wrong time
of year must be the crop, and only handled by
young, fit, male, short-haired East European

seasonal migrant workers, who walk everywhere
and must go about the town in groups,
with Morrison’s or Tesco carrier bags
frightening the hairnets off the local population
when they ask for the library or post office,

in clipped, thick accents. Tunnels must create
a greenhouse type effect quite distinct from
garden greenhouses or conservatory extensions.
Planning law must be suitably vague or

indeterminate as to whether they can, or
cannot stay, or anywhere in between.
They must be capable of creating
arguments for and against – biblical in proportion

- and arouse emotion in people who care deeply
about the view from their bedroom window,
on the newly built development of detached
executive homes, on the field that was once

the old orchard. They must generate enough
heated debate to make a whole village self-sufficient,
and produce potato size fruit – big, hard, tasteless.
Visits by people wanting to view a big white plastic

landscape, fifty yards from dwellings, must be an
outcome, and they must enrage newly settled locals,
come with rubber gloves and bleach from three beds
in Clapham, to three acres in Shobdon.

Across the country local authorities
play a game of wait and see, because
‘hide polytunnels and seek’ did not exactly work.
This is just protocol, a code of practice, just guidelines.

Breathing Space
"I chose to visit the old orchard at Kingsland, as it was due to disappear in place of executive homes. It struck me that this was something to be recorded. I felt drawn by the sharp contrast between an old orchard on the one hand, and new build homes on the other; the contrast sounded interesting. It also had the potential to be about more than this one site. What was happening in Kingsland could be a universal metaphor to illustrate the need for present and future needs to recognise and embrace what’s gone before, not bulldoze it off the map altogether. I was so taken with the orchard and its atmosphere that I wrote another piece, entitled ‘Orchard Spell’."
Polytunnel Protocol
"I had been following the debate about polytunnels in the county long before I became involved in the CPRE project. I was naturally drawn to the topic of polytunnels, and was keen to reflect the complexity of argument for and against. I wanted to present the differing views in an accessible way, to show the competing pressures and demands of consumers, economic sustainability, developments in farming, local employment (in particular the growth in seasonal migrant workers), and the rural landscape. I wrote another poem, entitled ‘Radar Logic’ which explored more about working with polytunnels as opposed to working in open fields, but that in either case there are risks in working outdoors, polytunnels or not."
Radar Logic
"‘Radar Logic’ arrived with me one day, during the project. It was an unusual experience, as most pieces take a while to form or firm up. This one came storming in – it still needed careful editing though. What sparked this off (not literally!) was reading about the instruments they have around polytunnels to watch for storms in case lightning might strike a tunnel. Here I am exploring the theme of working with or inside polytunnels as opposed to working in open fields, exposed to the elements; how modern farming techniques maybe create a distance between a worker and the natural environment – and just how dangerous that environment can be – polytunnels or not. There are real risks in working in the open and under cover."

                             

"What was important overall for me as the writer, was to create quality works that provoked thought, were consistent with the project aims, and that would stand shoulder to shoulder with the other art forms. I am indebted to the support and help of Glenn Storhaug of Five Season Press in editing and typesetting, and the physical creation of the Polytunnel exhibition piece."  All works © Amanda Attfield.

Amanda also produced an interactive piece called, 'Build a poem'.

To see more about this exhibition, and information on the artists involved, click on the link to go to the exhibition page

New poetry by Amanda

Amanda has recently written new works. One of these was commissioned by CPRE Herefordshire 'in requiem' for the landscape lost to the construction of the Rotherwas relief road, at Dinedor, Herefordshire (an area of High Landscape Value) - this poem is The Long Goodbye.

Another of her new works was written in response to the discovery of the 'Rotherwas Ribbon'; an ancient serpent shaped pathway that is 4000 years old and unique in Europe and which Herefordshire council plans to 'encapsulate for future generations', effectively burying it under the Rotherwas relief road.  For more information on this, visit www.rotherwasribbon.com

To read 'Rotherwas Ribbon' click on the following link,CPRE homepage

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