Symbols in the Sand

I hope you can join us for this free event for adults;  an evening of exploration, poetry, and connection with the beautiful Sefton coast
Please pass on the details to anyone you know who may be interested in coming along, and I look forward to seeing you there . . .

Letting it fall onto the page

Solo

You can come here thinking

you’re on your own

and will find nothing

except the unwanted, a plastic cup,

a bag of dog dirt flung on a pristine sandbank

You can feel you shouldn’t be here

if you come across 

a shirtless man sunbathing.

These things may prompt you to walk faster, deeper

into the dunes, away

yet still without direction.

You don’t know where you are

and at this point you could realise

it’s not a question of finding

but of losing.

The magpie helps with this

watching with a knowing eye

carrying nothing.

He slows you down

as you follow his cryptic route from post to post

Slowing, you see

damp white flowers, grass of parnassus, red clover,

a dragonfly,

another, hear

a flock of little birds curving over the marram

into the low grey green 

then up in a ribbon across the blue.

This is when you might have to remind yourself to breathe

and notice what has fallen away - 
expectations

hopes and doubts

They were only cluttering 

a space which is already full

of everything you could want with you

Tug

Have you ever felt the sea call?
It has a calling voice 

It pulls 

through the brambles that reach 

across the sand paths

through the buckthorn

pumped up with berries

Gulls point the way

over the dunes, a kite

flutters like the teatowel

my mother used to wave

when it was time to come home

Ainsdale 20th August 2019

More beautiful discoveries

I am very pleased to be able to share two pieces by Sue Tippin, inspired by the Discovery Walk in July. One is a reflective poem, the other a piece of micro-fiction which also works as a prose poem - both beautiful . . .

All Change

As we set out on a poetry walk this week, I learned that part of dune management is about allowing movement. There seem to have been times when maintaining stability was seen to be the answer and then recognition that  the opposite is needed - a truth which resonates with me on many levels.

I was struck by other contrasts on the coast that evening; the full dark clouds and the clear space beneath them revealing the extent of the wind farm, the sheltering places of the dunes and the openness of the beach. I noticed the subtle change in sound quality, with the dunes absorbing the sounds which ring along the flat of the shore.

There was plenty of inspiration for writing, and for conversation about poetry - its purposes and effects, ways into making poems, and how we can surprise ourselves with our writing.

the beach is an open hand

lined with its history

reflections in its creases

holding sea and sky

it ages and renews 

allowing whatever comes

and letting it go

At the Tideline

I steadied flight, guided it

along atlantic drifts

supported a body

responded to urgency

then fell.

Floating, free from the grip

of skin, of muscle

with no nerve-harness pulling

or pushing 

I flustered on squalls

until I had to waiver all purpose.

I surrendered under moons

succumbed to tides

became wetted in a strange element

with others who were lost

loosened from their origins

and then it stopped.

Gathered in a line

we are a seam 

between land and shore

fixed or shifting

depending on perspective

the long view or the short.

How we will unravel is a mystery

but this is not as far as I will go

Morning Muses

It was wonderful to be joined on a poetry walk this week by Eileen and Alastair. We shared our impressions of the Birkdale and Ainsdale sandhills as we walked and wondered at what we came across; fascinating plants in various stages of their lifecycle, striking moths and beautiful butterflies. It was a clear morning and from the top of the dunes the horizon was sweeping and the sky vast.

We shared some lovely discussion about poetry and writing, talking about how to get started and what can get in the way, and we stopped to do some free-writing and haiku. A haiku is a three-line poem with a specific syllabic structure. The aim is to capture a moment as it is being experienced; traditionally an encounter with nature. It has been said they are “an opportunity to pause and be present in the detail of the everyday”. They are also like little puzzles, and very satisfying to create.

Thank you so much Eileen and Alastair for your reflections, knowledge, and presence.

Here are Alastair’s haiku as they landed on his page in the dunes - each perfectly capturing a moment . . .

Discovery Poems

One of our group on Saturday’s discovery walk was Des Ney. Des volunteers for the project and his love for the coast, and his knowledge of it, was evident to me as we all explored together. He is inspired by the landscape of the dunes and is so right when he says, “even travelling a short distance can lead to the discovery of new things that evoke different emotions and ideas”. It is clear that Des’s connection with the coast is then conveyed in his poetry, and to me that is what poetry is for - to capture our experiences, whether they move us, mystify us, amuse us, or delight us.

A big thank you to Des for sharing his poems from the walk so that you can read them here . . .