The crow

...my first poem as self-appointed writer-in-residence at Gwithian Beach.

Image credit: Gopal Mudliyar

I saw an optimistic spaniel chase a magpie who, as it turns out, could fly.

I saw kite surfers and boogie boarders, hard-core swimmers and bobble-hatted dippers.

I saw sunlight sparkle on wind-rippled water.

I saw little boys break rocks with a violence that scared me.

I saw lifeguards sip coffee, eyes trained on the waves.

I saw broken mussel shells spill their guts to an unforgiving sun.

I saw wide-open skies crisscrossed with contrails.

I saw an old couple laugh as she leaned into the wind.

‘Look, look!’ she cried like a child. ‘It can hold me.’

I saw her suddenly stagger when it couldn’t and laugh some more.

I saw him draw her into his side with decades-old affection.

I saw the lighthouse, still and steady amid crashing waves.

I saw a young girl dance backwards into the wind,

sunglasses in one hand, flip-flops the other.

I saw dogs and clouds and buckets and kids and pebbles and waves, but the thing I remember is a crow

flying low

headlong into the wind

barely making progress

but making progress

none-the-less.

---

The tide line

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 wasn’t going to start until November when I’d finished my ‘Dip A Day’ challenge, but this poem came to me, so we’re off!

I am a craft, nature and sustainability writer and a certified Blue Health Coach™. To learn more and try a Blue Health Coaching™ tool for yourself, visit makingdesigncircular.org/coaching.

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