Sunday, January 14, 2018

Ghost Slipways



















sands resist 
   a permanent tenancy
      at a spring tide
           drift capriciously
      lift their shifts
   reveal ghost slipways
      from the beach
   stubbed out trails
       lead to the sea
          paths from the past
            footsteps lost 
         a scatter of blue china
            ridged & broken
         tidal memories
      cascade reclaimed 
          lost again
            shuffled rocked 
      folded & remade
         ghost slipways call
      a song of water
   siren’s temptation
      to walk the slipway
         to slink off our skins
      become sea creatures
                 again



During the WW2 Occupation of Jersey, some granite slipways were blocked by the Germans to fortify the coast.  Sometimes the sand on the beach shifts to reveal them again.