Horizon. Blakeney North Sea
Mary Gilonne
Here is no pale clemency. Do not be lulled by this calm
curving limb of acquiescent sand, nor the gentle tidal glow
reeling in its bycatch of salt-finned clouds. Read the air.
Do not believe the ghostly semaphored gestures of sea-mills
gathering wind, nor the silent shears of dutch sails
cutting to the Wash. Simply note those far-off margins
shrill
with gulling. Look past the far waiting blaze of sand-bars,
past bright oystering birds like clips of mica in the slippage,
turning a glitter of unladen shells with their fisherings of white.
See how a relentless rote of sky-tow scours out our scar of coastal
days until liberation, that final sigh of open water. How we stand for ever
cleaved between restless sea and land, constantly fording the drift.
​
Mary is a translator living in France but originally from Devon. She has won the Wenlock, Segora, Sentinel,and Wirral prizes,  shortlisted several times for the Bridport, commended or placed in many others. Her work can be read in Magma, Antiphon, Prole, Ekphrastic Review, Clear Poetry, Fenland Review, The Curlew etc. Her pamphlet 'Incidentals' is published by 4WORD Press.