Day 719 of the Daily Poems, and we move to a November day on the Suffolk coast, where our poet Antony Johae is in his van, rain sheeting down …
From Landguard Point, Felixstowe
Late November, and day lies low
over the estuary; the sun finds its way through
white cloud, dazzling the sea with sheen.
On the far shore, Harwich is caught in lustre,
church spire rising in aspiration towards the light.
Over the Stour, the sky darkens in storm,
is blown towards us in a rush, ruffles
the mirror, breaks it into pieces
as squall?whistling?hits dock cranes,
rain sheeting down against the metal of my van.
I think of the fishing fleets once afloat in tempest
out in the German Sea after herring haul,
sails unfurled, caught with their catch;
and today’s weighted freighters impervious to wave
ploughing calmly through the globe’s oceans.
Antony Johae
published in Antony’s collection ‘Home Poems’, Orphean Press 2022