Garish kites invade the sky,
parachute and dragonfly.
Bright-striped plastic windbreaks sprout,
ripple with each sea-breeze, flout
Nature's muted seascape tones.
Near a beach-stream strewn with stones
four girls stand and plan, while one
smaller brother digs for fun.
Thus the children colonise
one small patch of sand that lies
unclaimed in the beach's vast
runway long expanse. At last
feeder trench and pool are done.
Spindrift flashes in the sun
where the surfboards peak and drop.
Seagulls chase their shadows, stop,
perch on flinty cliffs, await
crab from pool, or roll from plate.
Now a ragged dog strolls by
tired beneath the drowsy sky.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Nice! Not sure I picked up the Auden reference, but not read much of him but I was reminded of Betjeman in particular his poem Trebetherick
ReplyDeletehttp://www.johnbetjeman.com/trebetherick.html
The idea of writing a seascape poem came from Auden's 'Look Stranger, on this island now', and the meter, basically seven syllable trochaic, was a favourite of Auden, used for instance in the third section of 'In Memoriam W.B.Yeats', 'Autumn Song' and 'Lullaby'. The first two can be found at http://thelib.ru/books/auden_w_h/selected_poems-read.html and 'Lullaby', surely one of the very greatest poems of the Twentieth Century, at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15542 .
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