CRAMPED: PORTH CHAPEL BEACH, CORNWALL...

 Cramped…

(Porth Chapel, Cornwall)

That short, compressed Porth Chapel tide

Lurched forth, rolling against a cunningly disguised

Shelf and incline;

In abject disgust it hurled itself into a frothy, spewing squall,

Watched by patrons, backed

Up against rocks and a vertical cliff face…

I stepped furtively across the fine shingle

Of what remained of the high-tide beach

And trod the spume pummelling the shore;

The clean, turquoise sea rasped and tingled

My legs as it strained and craved to reach

My thighs and higher still, in its furore…

The narrow, funnelled Porth Chapel tide

Tumbled on, unbalancing me, chastised,

Awry and benign,

Until, out of respect, I hurled myself into the sprawl, 

Scorned by breakers, stacked

Over outcrop rocks in its sheer, tousling race…

I stepped gingerly out of my depth, just

And swam for moments, then turned

As a wave rose cynically above me and threw

Me landward with spiteful thrust

And I acquiesced, rushed and was then spurned,

At once an ingredient of a wild ocean’s brew…  

Pete Ray

30th June 2021

Porth Chapel, near Porthcurno, Cornwall, on 21st June.

The tide was well in and any folks who had managed to clamber down onto the beach had thus been pushed well back.

The beautiful small beach of fine shingle was not easy to walk upon as one entered the sea and the bed dropped quickly via a slope into deep water.

I swam but was then picked up, thrown and carelessly deposited onto the shore by one vicious wave, which was actually brilliant…

Wary of the rocks each side of me however, I moved into what looked like a slightly safer area for a more satisfying, short swim…