Memory Maps: 'Elementary Maps', by Philip Terry

Romanticism taught us to appreciate mountains, but took away our ability to perceive, and to value, flat landscapes. Inspired by the watery estuarine landscapes of East Anglia, I wanted to record them in their specificity, their variety, their banality, their beauty.

I used the poetic form called the 'elementary morality' developed by the French writer and mathematician Raymond Queneau. Queneau describes the form as follows: 'First come 3 series of 3+1 pairs each consisting of a noun and adjective (or participle), freely including repetitions, rhymes, alliterations, and echoes; next, a kind of interlude of 7 lines, each 1 to 5 syllables long; last, a conclusion of 3+1 pairs of words (noun and adjective or participle), more or less recapitulating several of the 24 words of the first part.'

This may sound complicated, but the form, once mastered, is quite simple, and can be used to record any subject matter. In its visual aspect, suggestive of receding flatness, it is particularly suited to the depiction of estuarine landscapes: the first set of word pairs suggest the receding horizon, the interlude the watery middle ground, the last set of word pairs the foreground.

I

Blue buoy	Untampered similie	Black buoy
	Grey water
Still creak	White knight	Cold stream
	Red rubble
Grey sky	Yellow contamination	Blue sheep
	Light breeze
	Birds
	silhouetted
	on the
	mudflats
	Lights
	on the
	Colne
Still buoy	Outstretched branches	Cold sheep
	Icy pool

---

II

After John Constable 'A Mill on the Banks of the River Stour'

Black chalk	Reflected mill	Black charcoal
	Bisecting horizon
Still sky	Stationary sails	Static stump
	Angular posts
Still waters	Dark shallows	Icy stream
	Fringed bank
	The hand
	traces its
	undecipherable mark
	on the mill pond
	Face in the water
	Pike track
	Portrait of a drowned man
Dispersed shadows	Static stump	Uncertain steps
	Stationary sails

---

III

Calling gull	Uncertain yapping	Calling lapwing
	Dangerous parking
Corroded hull	Eroded track	Gnarled trunk
	Distinctive marking
Elevated nest	Shored boat	Abandoned bark
	Forlorn barking
	Oak trees
	lining
	the shore
	marram grass
	stump
	anchor
	oar
Corroded marking	Private shore	Exposed roots
	Forlorn parking

---

IV

After John Constable 'Study of Cirrus Clouds'

White clouds	Wispy clouds	Exhaled clouds
	Skating clouds
Fresh wind	Brisk wind	Swirling wind
	Warm wind
Transient sky	Pastel sky	Darkening sky
	Bright sky
	A bass note
	ascends
	the scale
	Two drums
	and a tin whistle
	play the
	arpeggio
White wind	Brisk sky	Fresh clouds
	Pastel sky

---

V

Banking jet	Talkative cyclists	Orange catamaran
	Distant castle
Sprinting dog	Obedient dog	Trotting dog
	Distant smog
Grazing godwit	Purple marsh	Languorous lapwing
	Distant chimneys
	Beyond the
	bright reedcrest
	two muddy
	redshanks
	patrol
	the muddy
	banks
Sprinting dog	Purple lapwing	Distant dog
	Talkative twitchers

---

VI

After John Constable 'Flatford Mill from a Lock on the Stour'

Long shadows	Distant cloud	Rusted anchor
	Obscure lock
Totem tree	Coiffured tree	Realistic tree
	Squat tree
Bright cloud	Slate-grey water	Bright cloud
	Distant shroud
	His conversation
	might be
	compared to
	a dissected map
	or picture
	of which the parts
	appear to have no connection
Totem anchor	Bright shadows	Coiffured cloud
	Obscure mill

---

VII

Airborne engine	Still water	Unforeseen wind
	Linear shadow
Airborne swans	Calling swans	Creaking swans
	Squeaking gate
Turbulent waters	Whistling wind	Dispersing foam
	Anchored dome
	Marked out with buoys
	Illuminated by sunlight
	The watery
	runway of
	two swans
	coming in
	to land
Enduring love	Anchored foam	Kissing gate
	Mobile home

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Copyright © Philip Terry