Friday 17 June 2016

ALL HER FAULT





ALL HER FAULT

--a poem inspired by a glimpse of Thirza, heroine of my WIP "Cloudhover Solstice"--

Tries to stand
Soles rippling
Beneath the boil
Basso profundo boom
Inching purchase
On sea stamped sand

Plunge forgotten
Now razor balanced
Between sink and scull
Spray rainbow halo
Stinging eye and tongue
Frothing sodden

Tries to breathe
Less and lower
Lower to mute
Her eye discerns the heart
Between two swan necks
As breakers seethe

Molten gold
In the eye of the tide
Breaks her buoyancy
In the undetow
She grasps for his hand
The earthed root hold

Tries to rise
Wings wrung with salt
Drag to inertia
Anchor to halt
The cliffs' billed cries

Are all her fault


© 2016 Joyce Barrass

Thursday 16 June 2016

"CLOUDHOVER SOLSTICE" - the tide is about to turn...


It's been four heart-yearning years since my health let me off the leash with enough energy to let me anywhere near fantabulous fair Flamborough, one of my favourite spots on the planet.

But this year, come gannets, guillemots, gust or gale, I'm going back to stay awhile.

This summer, armed with the first draft, plot outlines, character studies, orphaned scenes, midnight notes, scribbles, dreams and delirious delight, I'm heading back to the headland, the heartland of the East Yorkshire coast.

I'm off to reimagine those chalk cliffs, beloved from childhood, to plumb the landscape for its secret drama, its lighthouse and beacon, its hidden sea caves, stacks and scars, the Kittiwakes crying over the ocean ledges, the spray flinging itself against those craggy gorges and rockpools. I'm going to revisit it all through the eyes of my characters, Thirza, Bram and their friends and foes old and new.

Is that Piper I hear barking from South Landing?

"Cloudhover Solstice" is coming. The tide is slowly turning, dragging all that's familiar beneath the swilkering foam.

In the spirit of serendipity, my arrival on the East Coast coincides with this year's Summer Solstice, with the full Moon poised to shine down on the shimmering North Sea (if the forecast clouds, sea frets and mists deign to clear her a path over Holderness!)

Wishing calm seas and joyful summer voyages of imagination to all my lovely readers!

My first novel "Goatsucker Harvest" is available for Kindle and in Paperback here.
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