Write on the Beach

14th July 2016

Write On The Beach

A fabulous two hours this morning at

Write On The Beach workshop,

Sitting on fold up chairs, cushions

Or, for one, an arm chair

Borrowed from a salubrious living room,

Sun warming our faces

Wind cooling our backs

Nine gathered in front of 

Beach Hut 136

A blue beacon of creativity

Nestled quietly among more 

Ordinary neighbours.

With waves rhythmically keeping time 

Mysterious - moon drift

We read poems of the beach,

Write from prompts,

Share our hastily penned words.

Pebbles, warm underfoot, listen,

Listen, to our scratchy scrawlings,

Our spoken efforts

Sometimes stolen by brazon breeze.

In just a breath, juices flowing now

Time is up.

But inspiration as plentiful as

The waters before us

Is ours to take away

Reluctantly we go our separate ways

Fresh material within us .

And some words that i played with at the workshop:

Dip Your Toe In

Dip your toe in,

Yes, that's right, it's cold, it's icy,

But, you can stand it.

Go on now, Go a bit further, try

Your foot maybe? 

Colder still? Uncomfortable - for sure,

But you'll see 

Persevere, stay with it, what do you find?

Ahh, gone numb eh? 

No feeling?

Might as well take the plunge,

Jump right in .

You know you'll be ok.

And now you scream out.

It's too much pain,

It's taking too long,

But you, you carry on,

You stay with it.

You , finally , get your reward

You, you are swimming 

Totally immersed , one with the water.

It was worth it - suffering forgotten,

Waves wash away it's echo

The sun shining on you 

The warmth of this moment precious.

The prompt for the next one is the quote: " Water: no matter how much, there is still not enough". 

At each new dawn Nadia walks with her mother,

Before the sun has time to scorch their bones

Through narrow rugged paths,

Pebbles piercing sores into dusty feet,

They carry pitchers on their heads

On their way to get water for the day ahead.

They don't speak

The task is important , urgent.

Sometimes , if they finish early enough

And the day is cool

They will go out again

Take a different road and

End up by the sea.

This time the pebbles are welcoming

They creep across them to 

Sooth their sores in the cool water.

This time the water is more than enough to

Bring a smile to their brown burnt faces.

Nadia splashes her mother and 

For a few moments they

Forget that , no matter how much there is,

There is still never enough. 

Their skin glistens a fresh beginning,

And tomorrow they will go again 

To the still, small, stream,

And the day after that 

And the day after that

But , just once in a while 

They get to smile.