“The Dunes” by John Grey

A walk over the dunes,

round a naked headland

crisp white sand

the walk liberating

an escape from routine

the hues golden,

rising and flowing,

and taking account of my footprints;

I even run a little,

through swerves of waves,

letting my mind scamper

beyond the sharp, formal lines

of my writing

to whatever nature decides for me,

boundary-less,

and free of conclusions,

going along with the wind,

the trawling gulls,

the transitions of beach and ocean;

it’s not often that

I allow myself

to simply occur,

like air, like shoals,

and the endless turnstone darts

at the shallow’s edge;

no news from home,

from the world,

no orders from above or below,

no preparations,

this randomness

as fruitful as the bayberries,

the rolling fields of pebble and seaweed and shell;

from the top of a dune,

serenity pervades,

a hard climb but an easy victory.


John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Orbis, Dalhousie Review and the Round Table. Latest books, “Leaves On Pages” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Lana Turner and Hollins Critic.

Photo by Andrew Baxter on Unsplash

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.