Jan Harris

Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire

Jan Harris’s poems have appeared in various journals including Acumen, Envoi, Snakeskin, and The French Literary Review, and in several anthologies, including For the Silent, (Indigo Dreams Publishing). She was placed third in the Wales Poetry Award, 2019. Her first collection, Mute Swans on the Cam, was published by Oversteps Books in 2020.

Poem completed 29th August 2020

Hunstanton, after lockdown

From the promenade,

we watch sea become a stage

where waves mark time

beneath the setting sun's spotlight.      

Herring gulls take centre stage,

lifting their salty voices to the sky,

fulmars glide in on thermals, to land

on red and white striped cliffs,

and all of this is a replay  

of so many evenings left unseen.

But here, tonight

two teenagers in bright blue kayaks

paddle into view,

chased by a pleasure boat,

a cartoon shark on its prow,

a woman drops her yellow backpack on the sand

and holds a child’s hand to run along the beach,

three poodles leaping at their feet,

and we, who wait, at ease

with all that seems familiar and right,

remember the world’s grief

and are grateful for a day spent in sunshine,

for the tender breeze that cools hot skin,

for the presence of families

who distantly pass by and smile goodnight

while cloud falls like curtains

and hides the sun’s finale.