Sitting by the ocean

Sitting by the ocean

A brisk breeze

Lifting gritty sand into the air

To nestle among tousled strands

Of sea wet hair

Where it irritates and itches

Scraping hard against the scalp

Every grain a boulder

Scratching tear-filled eyes.

Queues of salt-caked bodies wait

For the only working shower,

Hoping to be rinsed clean

Before the journey home,

Blocking the drains

Creating an overflow

Flooding the prom,

Lying low above the tarmac

Evaporation generates

A scene from an imaginary

Rainforest.

Damselflies play tag

Over brackish freshwater

Where the river meets the sea

Disgorging evidence of its progress,

Scouring of the land

Collecting forgettables

Windfall and broken things

Featherbeds and wardrobes

Incongruously placed

Half in half out at low-tide

Fruit de Mer

Standing stones

Easter Island bunnies

Boothill overspill

A village beneath the waves

Reclamation in reverse

Populated with old bicycles and trolleys

Ragdolls rotting in the pockets of buggies

Water babies

Silted flowerbeds

Overgrown with sea anemones.

As the wind blows, salty dogs bark

Tails wag as they spin and whirl

Waiting to chase a ball

Until the wind change, when

The rain comes

Blown-in off the sea

A heavy squall that is soon over

But scatters everyone back

To cars and charabancs

For the slow crawl on trunk roads

Bisecting overpopulated flood plains

Green with moisture

To the firm dry ground of inland

The comfort of home

Bubble-bath bombs and after sun.