An idea: invisibly potent
A watery creek
A new and gentle breeze of ripeness
Felt by few
A red propeller spinning in the soil?
A sail – unfurled and flapping
Held fast with thin steel ropes
which ‘clack’, dull metal, at its imprisonment
…
Whose time: like the now-revealed spinning toy
Whirring in the wind
Unwraps, revealing shining teeth
Rotating gear, synchro-meshed
Engages, beneath everything, changing all
…
Has come to this:
The smug steel wires groan taut
And break…
The great mired ship slides free of oily, stinking mud
The jetty, rent like severed, ageing limbs,
Becomes confetti as the wind and sea
Too long unwed
Collide
…
©Copyright Stephen Tanham
