The Margin

Abstract

This three-part poetry sequence constitutes the field notes of a day’s walk on site at Newport Wetlands, South Wales, United Kingdom, and the poet’s contribution to cross-arts collaboration. The author walked with visual artist Valerie Coffin Price to study marginal land on the edge of the Severn Estuary, an area of “compensation land” for birds displaced from wetlands by a barrage build in Cardiff Bay, created on ground previously despoiled by waste from a coal-fired power station. This first collaborative walk led to an ongoing collaboration between poet and artist, including participation in a multidisciplinary wetlands project, and the publication of an art-poetry book on the River Taff.