There is Nothing to Me But Sea
O for a paddle in a piddle of the sea,
a heart-curled drool of cool salinity.
Ah for the spittle of the dregs of the sea,
a fontful immersion in an estuary.
I’m famished for foam –
fathom and floe
fluvial firths
fleeting fixes of salt.
I am feeble
O feed me with froth!
I long for ablution where starfish stroke my knee
and crabs pinch my soul in the cradle of the sea.
But I’d settle for a dawdle in a dribble of the sea
a toestrung oodle of a revel in the sea.
I am frantic for fish –
for Frill Mouth Sole
Fusco Drum
Fourstripe Grunt and Forssk.
I flounder
O feed me a fin!
I’m agoggle for a toddle in a coddle of the sea,
But I poke in a puddle like a carcass at the quay;
Send a message in a bottle for the bubble of the sea –
a quick skedaddle of a sidle in the sea.
I’m furling for luffs
for feluccas and fluyts
fustas and foists
fo’c’sle futtocks and gaffs
I am flagging
O feed me a fleet!
Awash with wave and water,
there is nothing to me but sea.
In eel-deep sleep
I sweep the sky for sail;
on brineless spineless land,
I simmer for blue.
David Seddon: I didn’t start writing poetry because it was therapeutic, but it wasn’t long before I realised that it was. In my counselling practise, people usually come to me in great pain. I help them to work through that but also, just as importantly, to begin to reach out again to good things – even contentment and joy. Poetry is one of three therapeutic Ps for me – the others being philosophy and photography. They help me to feel and think through painful things and find what makes me come alive. They are journeys from solitude to connection, with each step a relief.
Here is David’s counselling blog: http://davidseddon.blogspot.co.uk