Sails
The day
you tried on that tiny bikini –
four blue triangles of sail – I knew
summer was nearly
over—
you were wave tumbled, storm flung, glinting
on the shore in shades, slick oil skin,
whilst we, still half done,
spun head
over heels, salt-numbed. Four years it took
and a spring tide— those blue sails swelled, took
shape, bore you away.
Karen Jane Cannon’s novel Powder Monkey was published by Orion in 2002. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. She has written for radio and stage. Her poems have appeared in Orbis and Acumen.