no word from him

no word from him –

overhead

one raucous seagull

~

Beach

Beyond rabbit clipped dunes

The sea sighs.

Shells rubbed smooth of past.

Fragments of lives broken

Swarm and tumble in sun-glitter.

They chatter in tongues.

Screech as wave sucks.

Seagulls curl.

Wing tips ruffle in cliff top thermal

Circling spindrift foam.

Calling for Posiedon.

Below.

Oyster catchers quick skitter.

Beaks darting jab for rotting fish

Clinging to sightless fish bone.

*

To all my wonderful friends who write poetry. How can I improve on this?

The Girl Who Heard Seashells

A fragment of a children’s story

In those days she was too frightened to swim in the sea. The water was a mysterious place harbouring evil creatures. Ginny imagined them on the pages of her drawing book and in her dreams. Joined at the horizon, the sea and sky were one. It was a place she could see on a clear day, but never, ever touch.

That was the time she decided to believe in God – and the sky was where He lived. The sea birds were His messengers. He told them things they must pass onto the world to make it a better place. But Ginny knew people were too busy, too noisy to listen – so she learned to be quiet and still. Sometimes she heard the words hidden within the shrieks and mewling of the seagulls; but if the birds were silent, she took a seashell to her ear. All His messages to the world were kept safe in every shell, waiting for someone to listen.

…