{"id":12807,"date":"2023-01-27T12:58:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T20:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/?p=12807"},"modified":"2023-01-27T12:58:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T20:58:32","slug":"the-refuge-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/the-refuge-box\/","title":{"rendered":"The Refuge Box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Refuge Box on the pilgrim’s path to The Holy Island by Graham Robson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I learned about the Refuge Boxes that sit on the tidal flats between the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and the mainland of Great Britain. It is little more than a platform perched above the sand, but for travelers stranded on the flats when the tide comes in, it provides temporary refuge from the sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Northumberland poet, Katrina Porteous wrote a lovely long poem<\/a> on the Refuge Box which begins thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the edge of the Low, the wind blows cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A world that is water and not water<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Stretches away, reticulate;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shaken within it, redshank, godwit,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their scraps and patches of safety shrinking,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spreading. Miles of sand-flats. Glittering<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Streams and ribbons of water, weaving<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earth and sky; between them, the golden<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Island, afloat on equivocation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or safely grounded there, the tide<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Either coming or going around it, the road<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Snaking towards it, narrow, human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fade up seals, low Hooooo.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
You reach the Danger sign, and stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You want it, that Island, stretched out like a ship<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ashore on its saltings, adrift in a sea<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So blue and endless, you\u2019d think the sky<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had swallowed it up, or else had fallen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smack down into its own reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out from the causeway, over the sand,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guideposts narrow towards the Island,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mirror-image of their own<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vanishing \u2013 an invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Slakes answer the sky\u2019s question:                   <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, will you<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step out into an unknown element?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
All of us, pilgrims in the world, need a refuge box from time to time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Refuge Box on the pilgrim’s path to The Holy Island by Graham Robson Today I learned about the Refuge Boxes that sit on the tidal flats between the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and the mainland of Great Britain. It is little more than a platform perched above the sand, but for travelers stranded on the flats when the tide comes in, it provides temporary refuge from the sea. The Northumberland poet, Katrina Porteous wrote a lovely long poem on the Refuge Box which begins thus: All of us, pilgrims in the world, need a refuge box from time to time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/4465106_5c683b2c_1024x1024.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piBp1-3kz","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12809,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12807\/revisions\/12809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}