Seafront

Weeds hang in blue-green seas,

pirated by the waves as they roll in,

or they flap against hanging masks

in brisk, salty air.

Pieces of broken shell

stick to clammy feet as tides

reach and grasp at grains,

tugging from the shore

to be relinquished once more

by shacks selling fresh crab

or sticky-sweet rock,

emblazoned as the seafront. 

Dover

Chalky grey rock

with off-white gleam,

flakes into salty wind

where it’s hurried,

drifting over the beam

of ferries approaching,

into the hollow

beneath such cliffs.  

Great Portland Street

London's September draws on.
Its commuters criss-cross their way,
dancing the two-step on a concrete drive
past tablecloths of cotton-white, spotted
with circulars of damp from the champagne bottle
left sweating in its post-fridge state.


Little green olives that might be gems,
glisten subtly in a shy, pre-Autumn sun,
ignored by elegant hands and ruby lips
- pirated by the wasps.

Two Cities

London

A ragged leaf on a London street.

Green against the grey,

It blows in the breeze

Of a hundred hurried commuters.

Pillar-box red blur,

Stuck with gaudy flyers;

The number 5 rushes by,

Crushing the leaf

Under bold and brazen tyres.

Bangkok

Ruby trimmed pillars frame the temples,

air swims with oils of jasmine

and thyme.

Outside persistent neon signs

flash in smog filled streets,

while expectant eyes fish out

the fattest wallets.

Lime green leaves sizzle in salt

on an open flame,

flickering like conscience,

sticky with garlic and oil.

The Widowed Fisherman

Salty grains rub relentlessly into coarse hands
as they gather in leathery creases and gray, turn antique 
in time to his matted beard, now a silvery web of moss;
a clinging cobweb of shadow-gray haze, while a feathery 
mass of foam left stagnant on barren sand to expand
and decay, frays at the edges of a deserted shore,
where the sea, relinquished by its master has deceased,
encased in cracked earth. 

Garden of Corals

Sea Lavender 

Tossed

in salty wind,

left to drip

from a single stem.

Flung forth

on harsh sand,

spiced,

with fragrant stain.

The Riverbed

The lonely river bed rests

free from all flowing life,

but the crawling inmates

of its broken brook.

Its thick mosses lay shrouded;

their wiry stems with deep olive stain,

concealed by silver hazes,

a maze of feathery webs.

The Weed

Sticky leaves

with gaudy flower,

reach gnarled fingers

to choke poppy seeds

from coral petals.

Sunflower

Stark fringe

of acrid yellow,

spread wide.

Crowd of bright leaf

gathers,

in mint-coloured fields,

bristling

in sharp wind,

balanced

on single stems.

Water Mint

Lilac petals

cluster,

at the head

of a stooping stem,

too heavy to balance,

with flat, oval

leaves it is crushed

underfoot,

leaving behind,

peppermint stain.

The Sea Pea

Creeping low

amongst shingle;

harsh plain

for sea pea flowers,

with its coarse stem,

violet petal

savaged by salt,

sacrificed on the shore.