The Abbaye at Chãteliers
The path on the coast that leads to the Abbaye is prohibited to cyclists interdit aux velos one of those stark signs loved by the French citizenry is it because of the danger of collision or litigious conflict on the narrow ascending gravel tracks which overlook the bay of ostentatious yachts no can remember when there was last even the smallest amount of rain here the hot gravel smokes when the wheels of my racing green bike trailer pull along and little Max can stay put in there with his teddies Where The Wild Things Are only half-scaring him half-making him want to be a King even if I have to stop and walk the sharp stones daydreaming of puncture proof tires as I’ve had so many recently it may be a tarot sign for a broken heart from the water here or out there a mussel catcher with their buckets and Wellington boots middle-aged masculine Île de Ré voices upper arm marine tattoos first girlfriend’s names Melodie Anne-Laure Fannie some scratched out trying to keep open minds to address the obstinate world of their prey the track is steep one wonders at other less obvious reasons for the prohibition of bikes spiritual ones whatever that might mean these days now that god is dead who knows my daughter finds and photographs two ladybirds mating though they tried their utmost to keep it a private affair she titles it the most beautiful event in nature knowing full well she is foregrounding a sexual encounter smiling to herself at the Abbaye the temperature is past twenty degrees and it is only mid-May the ruin is twelfth-century Cistercian still following the rule of Benedict and the geckos green and grey and longish lithe bodies that rule its stony back walls are prehistory my son finds a baby starling fallen from its nest cowering he rubs the furry black-grey shiny plumage gently and it regains courage seeks flight again but the odds are now stacked against it Dad my son reports honestly and with real sadness.
Jones Irwin is a writer and philosopher based in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. He has been published in Poetry London and Kairos, and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize.