From Brean Down
The puddled beach reflects a cloud
that floats off to glistening mudflats,
then to Steep Holm, Flat Holm, Wales
over water thick and brown with silt,
though from the Down, you can see
how the murky waves catch the light
so a blue lustre glazes their crests
and a day long forgotten comes back:
brown sea with a blue iridescence,
strong hands on your waist, lifting you
onto a donkey, its sweet dusty smell,
the shreds of pale straw in its mane,
Dad holding you safe in the saddle.
Sharon Phillips
Sharon’s poems have been published in print and online. She won the Borderlines Poetry Competition in 2017, was among the winners of the Poetry Society Members’ Competition in November 2018 and was Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize (2019). Sharon has recently moved to Otley, in West Yorkshire, from the Isle of Portland. She tweets @sharoncowling
http://www.outtograss.wordpress.com
Photo credit Sally Griffiths at https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/can-you-visit-steep-holm-island-1-5232312
The Beach Hut 