The Fishermens’ Reading Room, Southwold Copyright © Victor Weston 2011

The room seems ordinary
yet there is something acronistic,
out of time even with this place
elevated on the cliff top
facing the North Sea
whose waves break on the shore
the sun in the heavens lighting
waters that remain unchanging

boats rested on this foreshore
when there was a fishing community
even the gulls now have moved elsewhere;
empty of people, it seems more a museum
emanating memories, evoking ghosts
the whiff of tobacco smoke hangs ...
and display of relics: figureheads and photos
it is a shrine to ancestors

Of those men who did live - and sometimes drown here
few are left
with family connection to this place
a few elderly, and there is the
occasional “shindig” at the Harbour Inn
Its now luvvy-ville, holiday lets and weekend cottages
for the Londoners who can buy
at prices locals cannot afford

Along the coast cliff erosion continues
as social corrosion occurs
distant echoes rumble on
with each cliff fall
of a disappeared hardy breed
noone regretting their passing
just an unexpressed heartache and pain

- represented by this Fishermens’ Reading Room

* The Harbour Inn hosts a monthly folk music evening - "Shindig" at which some locals, now living in Reydon, attend