Tiercel
Andrew Eason
Tiercel was finished in its book form in 2002. The text derives partly from a reading of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon.
Although not a transcript, Tiercel is inspired by, and is a retelling of the events in Maldon. Where Maldon describes the events of
the battle from the chronicler's or bard's point of view, Tiercel uses the element of a hawk, briefly mentioned in the original,
to tell the story from the bird's point of view.

Conflating imagery of the natural weapons of the bird of prey with the imagery of edged weapons, and of the sense of duty with
the sense of ownership, Tiercel portrays a series of events where senses of duty, power and right are drawn into an anguished
vortex of destruction. A widening sense of doom and fatality is met by the warrior's urgent courage and sense of duty, with inevitable
results. The allure of deadly beauty is an element common to the bird and to the weapons it is described as: Tiercel describes
the dangerous attraction of a finely-honed weapon, and the tragic blindness that so much glittering steel produces.

Topographical details in the original poem are basic: a tidal island and a strand of beach backed by woodland.
Tiercel is based in a similarly simple topographical milieu.

Open edition, Bristol, UK, 2002
10 x 18 cms, archival inkjet print
mail@andreweason.com
www.andreweason.com

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