Best Quay Poems

TIME FLIES by Jeanette Jones 
based on PORTRAIT NO 9 
Morning at the Quay in Venice by Helen Allingham




TIME FLIES


Early still, I rise again. 
For the quails came calling. 
Dragging my feet, I stumbled 
across the room, to get a glimpse 
before they get to...

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Oh, my love, how I wish...
                   you were here by my side
               ...

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I sit upon the harbour wall
And feel the warm sun on my face.
I turn my gaze far out to sea
And watch the happy dolphins play.
Bright sunbeams slanting through the clouds
Are searchlights toying with the waves.

I lean against the cold hard lines
Of granite blocks quite roughly...

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Skeleton quay - abridged for Give Me Goosebumps contest



When the sniper fired his rifle and his faithful canine fell
A second bullet found his heart and he went down as well
Might we stay together, somehow he deigned to try
His last exhale the whispered vow, Lord, we...

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He caught the faint scent of perfume as she walked by
The treacly fragrance of gardenias caused him to sigh
She moved with grace and poise that caught his eye
Her sultry wink made him quiver at what it might imply

She walked towards the beach, near Harper's Quay
He...

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Foreword: Contains excepts from, and additions to, my own three part poem ‘Bone Idol’, which is way too long to submit here.

Skeleton Quay

He lingers on the quayside and heeds the phantom howls
Out on mist shrouded water his hero dog now prowls
While mortal men of flesh...

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Currachs, like upturned whales beached

as musical notation on the quay.

Those sleek, mussel shelled torpedoes

ready to cleave though

wavewalls, green  and white-tipped,

chasing schools of quick-silver with

hand-strung nets tuned to their scales.

Rhythmic fingers conduct these vessels

in ancient songs that harmonise

with an underwater chorus,

carrying the music booming deep...

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Ask to gain insight
through poet’s sighs  answer pries
open to adore




Tried to say more than a haiku allows
(aloud)...

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Consider this choice (of sound mind) my last hurrah, 
Have no doubt about my motive so pure and fine  
See my feet dangling just above the waterline; 
Give my fond farewells, observe my last scofflaw. 

I chose this heavy iron chain around my neck;...

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Majestically, they stand perched.
Arrivals and departures, they see.
Carefully guarding their home;
The keepers of the quay.

Their hover maneuvers astound
All that happen to see.
Maintaining their height and gracefulness;
The keepers of the quay.

On beaches they’re searching for food.
To people, annoying as can be.
Seagulls just trying to live,
The keepers...

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Some will say I have paid my just, spiritual Penance 
Though no crime have I confessed before the bar. 
With bitter Perfume in my nostrils, with Poise, I stand 
And ponder quickly the maddening accusations hurled ...  
Then pull the Platinum chain tightly around...

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R-ide like the howling wind
O-n a wave of popularity
W-ill make one drown
E-ven in the shallow sea.
N-ight sail in the deep ocean at the threat of the coming storm
A-llows one to feel the peril, so do the lizard, snake, and worm.

M-onth of cold December
O-n twenty-second break...

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Ennui crept up and perched high
On the shoulder of a roving mind
Hand in hand with gales, now spy 
Rainbow shrouded in a misty pall
Golden friend of the sky just left

Entrusted to me a sleepless daze
Though my partner be ever nigh
None but a grey expanse and...

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For Brian Strand's Your Choice S Poetry Contest

2 June 2025



   ++++++++++++++
   salt breeze fills the air,
  ~  ~ boats sway, ~*~*~*~ropes creak, gulls cry " ",
             ...

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silence on the seas
massive seismic surge follows
when continents shift

earth’s distinct contour 
erupts from out the ocean
forming Hartland Quay

layered, jagged cliffs
before time began for us
join in upheaval 

shipwrecks indicate
transition under the sea
earthquakes unnoticed

silence grandpas can't recall
pre-ancestral change at all

May 8, 2023

Joanna Daniel / Haiku Sonnet...

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