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Poetry from NHI publications

THE COVE
Clambering over the sharp piled rock on my shoulders Jane her hair almost orange against granite grey sky black sea Michi stumbling behind with Ena still looking prim & with an air of dignity, to the little sandy cove where we explore the rocks & pools, the spray & smell of sea fresh in the nostrils; a boulder mossy with seaweed & algae, bulwark against the sea's smash where I sit with the girls, spray thrown in our faces, uplift of disintegrating foam marbled soap-green undertow. We prise limpets from quartz, muscles like pink fibres elastically cling suck, on the mottled rocks clusters of big red starfish: throw stranded ones into the waves, search in the sand for shells; the four of us small vulnerable in the shadow of cliff sea sky, isolated together isolated, cocooned & isolated each with our nets of anxiety, nerves transmitting sensual joy, minds flittering. Here the four of us, alone & only a tremor of the rift or distant gunshots worry me.
DAVID TIPTON

THE COVE

Clambering over the sharp
piled rock on my shoulders
Jane her hair almost orange
against granite grey sky black sea
Michi stumbling behind
with Ena still looking prim
& with an air of dignity,
to the little sandy cove
where we explore the rocks
& pools, the spray
& smell of sea fresh
in the nostrils;
a boulder mossy with seaweed
& algae, bulwark
against the sea's smash
where I sit with the girls,
spray thrown in our faces,
uplift of disintegrating foam
marbled soap-green undertow.
We prise limpets from quartz,
muscles like pink fibres
elastically cling suck,
on the mottled rocks
clusters of big red starfish:
throw stranded ones into the waves,
search in the sand for shells;
the four of us small vulnerable in the shadow
of cliff sea sky,
isolated together isolated,
cocooned & isolated each
with our nets of anxiety,
nerves transmitting sensual
joy, minds flittering.
Here the four of us, alone
& only a tremor of the rift
or distant gunshots worry me.

DAVID TIPTON

from
Headland #7

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This page last updated: 23rd February 2007.