Poetry Forum

Polperro Harbor


The cry of gulls is the first sign you’re waking
along the Cornish coast. It’s been a good
four decades since I’ve risen with the sun
in England’s western borders, where the tide
fills each small harbor the Phoenicians knew,
as water fills a glass; but nothing since –
no sum of days, no journey, nothing felt
or reasoned – has erased that cry of gulls
from my capacious memory. My eyes
unfocus. In the harbor, every mast
begins the climb to vertical – the tide
has caught each hull. Gulls fleck the ozone-filled
blue air the dawn makes possible. I am
as young as dawn and gazing at the ocean
that rights each tilted boat, that rings the world.

 

Hi John

They got around those Phoenicians! The sea righting a tilted boat was nicely resonant. I tend to think of the English Channel rather than the Atlantic along that coast, though I guess you wanted ozone/ocean. Similarly my mind goes to the Welsh Marches. I guess my mind is more parochial!

Enjoyed

Phil

Hi Phil,

Yup, Phoenicians! And they gave us the alphabet. I’m glad you liked the tilted boats – that’s how I remember Polperro, indeed much of the Cornish coast – and I having grown up in Kent tend to think of the Channel ending at Surrey. Certainly before Sussex!
The Marches are where the Marcher barons were, in my mind – not sure they were in Cornwall, but it is a kingdom’s edge. Were there barons with the Cornish to deal with? Inquiring minds wonder! In any case, I think you are quite right in your allocation of the Marches. Up north as well.

Cheers,
John

Very nice. I especially enjoyed the final line. Do you need to mention that the air is ozone-filled?

Thanks for the thumbs-up, Ray! There's a bit of a web of alliteration there which no immediate erplacement satisfies, to my ear - filled and world, ozone and ocean. For me, it pulls the end together musically, and the meaning feels fine in the context.

CHeers,
John

I like the ending too. And, like Phil, I question your marches.

Cheers

David

Hi David,

GLad you liked the poem! Especially the ending.

SO, the Western March is evidently Cumberland and Westmoreland. I could write counties but it feels inelegant, or maybe shires. I've not found the word yet.

I'm trying borders.

CHeers,
John

I think borders works perfectly well, lovely poem.

Thanks, Ryder!

Cheers,
John