Tag Archives: What Pegman Saw

What Pegman Saw: They Came to Trade

Posted on August 5, 2019 by crispina kemp

They came to trade, they stayed to rule, They came with strange weapons and their tools; They claimed the protection of their god And believed that we’d be overawed. They took our food, they took our land, They broke us, … Continue reading →

Posted in Mostly Micro, Poems (Some Silly), Thoughts | Tagged , | 53 Comments

What Pegman Saw: Dancing upon the Demon’s Back

Posted on July 29, 2019 by crispina kemp

Plodding, footslogging, the weight of the pack on her back weighing her down. On past prayer flags flapping and pilgrims trekking, to reach the festival place by the tenth day of this the tenth moon. There to watch her son … Continue reading →

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

What Pegman Saw: The Great Inland Sea

Posted on July 22, 2019 by crispina kemp

‘Ain’t no sea inland, big nor small. I told him, but he didn’t listen to me.’ No, he’d seen the way the rivers ran westward. But why westward when the sea lay to east? To Captain Charles Sturt the answer … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Mostly Micro | Tagged | 41 Comments

What Pegman Saw: Of Mud and Trade

Posted on July 15, 2019 by crispina kemp

It formed where the three rivers joined, between the island-guarded northern bank and southern cliffs, at the estuary the Celtic Iceni called “Noisy Mouth” (for the strident gulls that roosted there). The Romans helped. They built a fort on the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Photos | Tagged , , | 55 Comments

What Pegman Saw: Don’t Listen to Local Talk

Posted on July 8, 2019 by crispina kemp

You say Jean de Gisors founded Portsmouth? On land that he bought off Adam de Port? But that can’t be true. In 1172 Henry Plantagenet exiled Adam de Port for his involvement in the Scottish Lion-king’s invasion of *the Borders*; … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , | 43 Comments

What Pegman Saw: The Word of Grandfather-God

Posted on July 1, 2019 by crispina kemp

“Your Excellency.” Padre Bartolomé bowed his head and waited, a flick of his hand to the lad behind him, Bori-Damaso. Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar looked up from the papers cluttering his makeshift desk. Padre Bartolomé took that as permission to … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Mostly Micro | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

What Pegman Saw: The Flatulent One

Posted on June 24, 2019 by crispina kemp

‘See!’ Chimalis addressed the pilgrims. ‘At Huracan’s first creation, the gods created humans from mud. But mud has no voice to worship the gods, and so the gods destroyed them in a deluge.’ The pilgrims knew the story, yet the … Continue reading →

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , , | 38 Comments

Oh, Yawn, Yawn, Yawn

Posted on June 17, 2019 by crispina kemp

I am bored, said Tal-a-pus, and stretched and yawned and farted and grumped. Nothing to do but to watch people cavort in the calm rolling waves beneath me. Morning till night, night till dawn, day after day, year after year. … Continue reading →

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , | 24 Comments

What Pegman Saw: My Destination

Posted on June 10, 2019 by crispina kemp

Up early, a last double-check of the pack. Everything in, nothing forgotten? The taxi toots. We bundle in. ‘Coach station please.’ Saturday, turnaround day, the holidaymakers go home. The driver calls, ‘London Victoria.’ That’s ours. The coach is crowded, multi-ethnic … Continue reading →

Posted in Mostly Micro, Thoughts | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

This Eden in the East

Posted on June 3, 2019 by crispina kemp

Far out to sea beneath the heavy swell There is a land the ancients trod, so I hear tell. Their way of life we cannot know, What they ate, what plants did grow; They fished, of that no doubts I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Mostly Micro, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 39 Comments