NEW POEM ABOUT PORT ISAAC: 'HALF A CROWN ANCHORED'...

Half A Crown Anchored

Tentatively I short-stepped along a sea-wall,

Its green slimy weed for a victim lying in wait,

To make one slip

And tumble

Helplessly onto waiting rocks, discarded,

Or even into the harbour’s lowering tide…

Intuitively I shot a glance below the wall,

Its brown clumsy weed clung to an anchor’s fate

And tightened its grip

And jumbled

Carelessly about the shaft’s harsh weight,

One half-crown gone, no doubt cast aside… 

 Like a bird’s head, the anchor’s one palm and bill

Reached from the murk, 

Like a cobbler’s last it emerged,

Stealthy, stubborn, stricken by strife from the sea

 But at high-tide it was surely submerged…

Pete Ray

April 2018

Part of an anchor, one arm missing, in Port Isaac’s harbour…