Ian Humphreys #2 - ‘First poem’ in response to Kit Kelen’s ‘First post’

First poem

The first poem

I wrote was

scratched in sand on

Dymchurch beach

with the point

of a big whelk shell.

I was four or five.

It read: 

HERE I AM    

I AM HERE.

As I played

with syntax, rhythm,

Paddy barked

at puddled jellyfish,

mum cracked guazi

with her front teeth and

out-browned

the melon seed husks

under a waning

British sun.

After chips, I held

the whelk shell

to my ear – so startled

to hear the blood

of my rush

I didn’t notice

the sly tide

wash away my words

and leave behind

a blank page.