The cormorant
...my second poem as self-appointed writer-in-residence at Gwithian Beach.
Splash and glide
She came out of nowhere
It was low tide
Dived under the water of this tiny tidal pool
And then bobbed up like a cork
A barnacle-yellow gullet I’ve never noticed before
Amid the oily black slick of her streamlined form
She paddled, dipping yellow beak in
To tease fish out from under the rock
She looked right at me
And I was right there
Right in that moment
Dripping costume in hand
Getting out as she dived in
Right in that moment
I was right there
She looked right at me
Before splash and glide
Disappearing out of sight.
The tide line
I had this magical experience with a cormorant during my ‘dip a day’ challenge in October and it just had to be captured in poem form as part of my writing residency at Gwithian Beach. (It is really a spoken word poem, so try reading it out loud and/or keep your ears peeled for the new season of my podcast.) I read about the idea of a ‘self-appointed artist in residence’ on Amy Stewart’s Its Good to Be Here, so thank you to Amy for this idea.
I am a craft, nature and sustainability writer and a certified Blue Health Coachâ„¢. To learn more and try a Blue Health Coachingâ„¢ tool for yourself, visit makingdesigncircular.org/coaching.