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Mary Hodgson – born Suffolk, lives on Wirral. Taught English in schools, then creative writing (Liverpool WEA). Published in various magazines and commended in several competitions. Member of WORDSCAPES poetry workshop on Wirral. Anyone interested in joining please e-mail Mary.
Shingle clothes this shore-line
like a Joseph’s coat,
spectrum of brown, dun, ochre,
beige and ivory
mottled with other hues,
but each pebble sleeked by waves
to uniform shape of orb, egg or disc,
disciplined and rounded to anonymity
by the sea.
Not so the eccentrics, those knubbly flints.
Their quirky rough-hewn lumps are
instantly recognised
though no two the same.
Like ancient schoolmasters they wear
dusty old coats worn thin
and frequently discoloured,
white chalk yellowing with age.
The sea has scrubbed their skins
but cannot hide their crankiness;
irregular and tactile they resemble
knuckle-joints or ham bones,
a clenched fist, club foot or bull’s head.
Split them open and their startled, exposed faces
gleam with the beauty of a starling’s wing.
Poem commended in the George Crabbe Memorial poetry competition, 2005, and published in the competition anthology.
Publications:
Waiting to Cross, a mini-booklet published by Windows, Liverpool, 1983;
New World and Summer World, travel poems about USA published by Envoi Poets, 1990, 1992.
Copyright© of all poems featured on this site remains with the poet
