Something about the hand of the sea
and the tactile nature of things
it leaves in its wake for people to find
to pull at many heart strings
Something about the smooth of the feel
and the salt blended into the grain
that brings inspiration to a poet's mind
for words that will always remain
Something about the beauty that's there
it some flotsam often quite small
for a treasure that's found to have and to hold
is the 'je ne sais quoi' of it all
On our last day we went back to Lyme
to look for fossils on the beach
heading westward from the town
to one in easy reach
And found them, oh I think we did
some massive ones at that
in boulders far too heavy
to take home and that's a fact
So I built a sculpture with flat stones
I found and balanced there
quite pleased with my achievement
took photographs to share
And the sun as it had been all week
shone down and warmed and beamed
as we sat down and rested
on the sand and looked and dreamed
For this was our swansong glory
so we wanted it to be
quite special to remember
down in Dorset by the sea
So after ice creams on the Cob
as by these words you'll tell
it has been all of that besides
and memorable as well
By the orange cliffs at Seaton
on the beach is a dead tree
looking like a natural sculpture
beside East Devon's sea
Of course I had to get a closer look
so I walked along the beach
til I was close to where it was
with it in easy reach
It really was quite lovely
sculpted there by nature's hand
A little sad that it was dead
yet still it's proud to stand
Apparently it got there
when a massive chunk of cliff
one winter slipped into the sea
coastal erosion shift
And the tree it was deposited
upright and still alive
where for several years it prospered
and continued there to thrive
But battered by the winter storms
and exposed there to the sea
its demise was written in the wind
so died one year sadly
And yet its stump and whitened roots
remain there to this day
here on the beach at Seaton
In East Devon long to stay
Shaped though many hours
by the touch of sea and sand
this wonderful breakwater
now moulded by their hand
encapsulates the aura
that this seascape holds for me
from a life spent here in Sussex
on the beach and near the sea
This sculpted inspiration
with a charm there of its own
has long held fascination
from the years here I have known
and though these precious heirlooms
are now fading over time
I will capture them for memory
where they stay uniquely mine
Down on the docks this evening
as the day turned into the night
we had the special privilege
of a truly lovely sight
Part of the Brighton Festival
an experience to share
called 'Points of Departure'
to entertain us there
And it was quite ethereal
the sounds around us strange
as sculptures interacted
our perception there to change
Perhaps made even stranger
with the facemarks that we wore
it added to the ambiance
to excite us all the more
Lights shone all around us
some bright and some subdued
as we wandered the environment
and its presence we imbued
And then when it was finished
the spaced-out crowd clapped loud
for the sculptor and the Festival
which had there done us all proud
The collection is growing
of our iron blooms
amongst the nasturtiums out there
Exposed to the weather
they rust and remain
with permanent gusto and flair
We have poppies and daisies
and other such things
positioned and planted at leisure
For as the year changes
and plants come and go
they remain for continuing pleasure
Photo – in situ iron flower sculptures – Jempics [We found these in a shop in the ancient Sussex town of Lewes a couple of years back. Originally purchasing two, the crop has now grown to seven!]
He’s just one of four
by Elizabeth Frink
looking down on me now
as I sip a hot drink
‘The Desert Quartet’
adorn the arcade
there from the eighties
when they were made
Pride they have mustered
as the years come and go
looking down on the people
who walk to and fro
And here they will stay
in Worthing I think
an epitaph to
Dame Elizabeth Frink
...all about me and my life in words. I write most days, carrying an ideas book around in which I capture a word snapshot of life around me. So there's a lot here about Sussex and the sea and anything else I see that inspires.
The pictures are mine too. Some taken to match a poem; some poems written to match a pic; others chosen because they work well with words written.
Jemverse is life in words. Hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoy the writing...
Jemverse 