Shunning capital letters and punctuation, Penelope Shuttle’s poem weaves not only through the Cornish countryside but the landscape of the past with a terse vividness. The piece comes from the popular poet’s new collection, Will You Walk a Little Faster? (Bloodaxe Books, £9.95). Lewis Carroll’s porpoise and snail are alluded to in the title poem!

LITTLE BUS

Route 35

The little bus

buzzes

through the backlands

workplaces

and farms

a wooden house here

a breezy bridge there

steep and turning hills

wind-y narrow road

making cars

reverse

and respect the bus

respect

there’s that apple tree lane

we used to park up by

the gate with the iron dove

daffodil or cabbage fields

the stony path

to Maenporth

the unforgotten years

are there

and the end of them

that’s there too

the bus skirmishes on

through Bareppa

where the flock of geese were

long ago

now I see one

by the stream

then we press on

to Helford Passage

where the river

tugs at its own heartstrings

to this very day

         if you get my drift