Dalchonzie

.

Alec Finlay, Proposal for Dalchonzie

Photograph, Alistair Peebles 2011

Ken & I visited Dalchonzie on our Basho-inspired journey the road north, where it figured as a pair for Kagnuma, ‘Mirror Pond’.

Alec Finlay, 2011

even the great

are acted upon

by invisible

influences

Alistair and I are struck by the combination of water-garden and power source: exemplary mingling of productivity and reflection. It is a philosophy that wind-farms and power stations rarely adopt – and why would they, without the land and view in their possession being held in common?

A sense of purpose changes over time. Now the power station proclaims the identification of water with ‘renewables’.

Alec Finlay, 2011

Time for a change: time to revive the state-planned arcadia of the energy-garden, and extend its potential into a forward-looking vision of walks, woods, considered alignments, so that the short-lived intervention of the wind-farm – after all, what is two decades measured in terms of eras of energy, or hills – will extend into a network of rich habitats, woodland or moorland paths and viewing points that look out from the towers and through the blades.

A rational energy program, integrating reflection and inspiration.

Alec Finlay, 2011

motion

and time

contain

logic

Dalchonzie | Kagenuma

This excursion takes the form of a poem, beginning from an image I sketched on a poem label from my memory of last year's visit, and then extending into a longer reflection on Mirror Pond.

Alec Finlay, 2011

              DALCHONZIE

                 a body of

                  standing

                    water

      

word-mntn (Bioran Dalchonzie)

poem, Alec Finlay; photograph, Alistair Peebles 2011

Alistair Peebles, 2011

(I)

Dalchonzie’s mirror

has the spruce-clad ramp

of Bioran Dalchonzie

under arrest

in the day’s best

pool of cloud

aslant in the glass

of the full windows

that crown

what’s mere reflection

below some sky

is disturbed

by the churn

propelling

in constant motion

beneath the bridge

of the station

sucking detritus

leaves and twigs

lucozade bottle

and a dead frog

being released

into the inevitable

flow gliding

the smooth tailrace

in a managed current

between banks

hemmed with birch

bound to the

narrow sluice

which rips down

the chute

and meets

a natural end

mingling

with the Earn

Alistair Peebles, 2011

Alistair Peebles, 2011

(II)

empty with silence

the inner hub

of the station

generates

whatever electricity

there is

in dented turbines

sunk deep

in the hill’s core

screened from view

by Dalchonzie’s

idyllic water-

garden which looks

toward Giverny

in its reflections

Alec Finlay, 2011

Alec Finlay, 2011

(III)

this is the power

of the mirror :

to know nothing

of labour

this is the power

of water :

to know nothing

of the forced race

through the blades

have no interest

whether its particles

rest in static pools

or are compelled
through hewn rock pen
stocks and steel pipes

forcing the turbine

to turn

for water

and mirror

may be given

over to reflection

but they never

make production

any of their concern

they remain

amiably careless

of their many effects

whether mirroring

a falling leaf

flooding a glen

or lighting

the quiet streets

of a small Perthshire town

Alistair Peebles, 2011

Alistair Peebles, 2011

The Old Wheel

A mile further on we take a turn around the still wheel of Bobbin Mill, an older wheel, ripening in the sun. The technology is much the same, it's just that Dalchonzie's better geared, smoother edged, capable of absorbing a higher velocity of water through the penstocks – one could even pun that the hydro differ as they fall from a greater head.

Alistair Peebles, 2011

Alec Finlay, 2011

just
these

few
apples

to
fall 

collaborations

Needless to say this blog is a collaboration with my colleague Alistair Peebles, as much for the conversation we share on these field-trips as the excellence of his photographs.

The pool at Dalchonzie is a conceptual and elemental confluence, where my renewable wind-gardens mingle with his renewable marine gardens. Future blogs will extend these themes and locate them in specific landscapes, such as Rousay and Billia Croo. 

intimations

Alistair Peebles:   Brae projects    |    blog

Alec Finlay: alecfinlay.com

the road north: Dalchonzie

SSE Dalchonzie