GANNETS HUNG LIKE KITES AT BEMPTON CLIFFS... (My new poem about gannets in squally weather...)

 Gannets Hung Like Kites At Bempton Cliffs…

Extreme winds roared across Filey Bay towards the steep edges

Of the stark Bempton Cliffs and at intervals dulled the sky  

From bright blues and starch whites into misty, leaden

Cloud, which spewed rain and even hail at the exposed cliff, 

Steep and rugged. The tumult screamed in its wildness,

Tempered only by periods of bearable gusty brightness…  

Seabirds littered the cliffs, seemingly teetering upon ledges, 

Others descended, swooping downwards to waves, which tossed awry

But like kites with invisible strings, gannets made sudden

Ascents into the squall and hung, suspended with wings stiff,

Their legs dangling, like a moon module’s hovering in distress. 

Then turning they flew wind-aided with guile and such speed to impress…   

Pete Ray

17th April 2024…    

Barely flicking their wings but with an imperceptible angling of tail feathers, like kites gannets hung in the face of powerful winds at a squally Bempton Cliffs and seemed to be surveying the cliff faces with their piercing eyes… 

They were so close too and their hanging legs reminded me of a lunar module’s legs, being positioned to make a landing on the surface of the moon…