Cornish Poems | Examples

Cornish Pen

Seems Craig’s got a contest again;
I’m finding out with much chagrin 
my stanzas in sapphic
are jammed up in traffic.
I’ll get there, but I don’t know when!

Dolly Pentreath

Oh, so average, was this wee lady.
Her ordered life had its hum-drum ways.
Eighteenth Century! All are ready
To hear the voice that's spoken in plays.

But Dolly Pentreath had of it none.
Shunning the new, she kept her own tongue.
When she died, with her life full done,
Twas last Cornish speak that Cornwall heard sung.

Cornish poem We Cornish are a Nation

Cornwall is almost an island,
Thanks to the river Tamar and the sea,
Its indigenous inhabitants are us Cornish and
We Cornish are a nation - and will always be.

Kernow (Cornwall) boasts its own: 
       Parliament and laws home grown,
       Flag, anthem and crest with fifteen bezants,
       Cornish Pasty and Oggy Oggy chants,
       Patron Saint and noble Kings,
       National bird with its black chough wings,
       Unifying tagline of ‘One And All’,
       Cornish wrestling and silver hurling ball,
       Ethnic Minority status, Unique DNA,
       Cornish language still spoken today,
       Nationhood recognised worldwide,
Facts are facts and the facts can’t hide.

We embrace our British neighbours
And we respect the Queen,
But we Cornish are a Nation
And we have always been.

Westminster chooses to ignore this fact,
Let it relent and admit its shame,
For whilst the truth beats in Cornish hearts,
A nation – we shall remain…

Cornish Identity

I think of my Cornish identity,
As on a cliff-top bench I sit,
And realise that Cornwall is a part of me
And I am a part of it,
I won’t be taken out of Cornwall
And you can’t take Cornwall out of me,
Though I gaze at far off horizons,
I know Cornwall is where I will stay
And is where I am meant to be.

Cornish Hen

Stuffed Cornish game hen
for the hoards of kin:
we’ll eat till we’re stuffed,
then do it again.

Sulci Rupes

Looking at the need
               They devolved the 
               means to which they
               Would create
               Examining detail and
               Formulating plans to
              Create that which needed
              To be.
              Which needed change and
              Structure
              Which needed fabrication
               and making
               In full respect of each other's
              abilities and short comings
              they labored to plan
              With full detail
              Calculating every minute
              From man power
              and machine hours
              Beyond the boundary of
              Not knowing
             To scale within the realms
             Of the mechanics and
             Sciences trusted and truthed
             All there were in the agreement
             Of creation
             The work in progress
             Encouraged by the nessicity
             Of need

My Cornish Identity

I think of my Cornish identity,
As on a cliff-top bench I sit,
And realise that Cornwall is a part of me
And I am a part of it,
I won’t be taken out of Cornwall
And you can’t take Cornwall out of me,
And though I gaze at far off horizons,
I know Cornwall is where I will stay
And is where I am meant to be.

Clerihew Cornish

A coalminer by trade Norman Cornish*
in his forties achieved his artistic wish
Like Lowry, at the end of his working day
locals&locality depicted in his own stylised way

*https://normancornish.com/

Cornish Eye

I watched
A Cornish chough,
Flying so Cornish high,
Over Cornish cliffs,
In a Cornish sky,
All Cornish observations,
Made by my Cornish eye.

I watched 
The Cornish sun,
Masked by a Cornish cloud,
I thought my Cornish thoughts,
My Cornish thoughts were loud,
I viewed the Cornish landscape,
And I felt so Cornish proud.

I watched 
The Cornish waves,
Roll into the Cornish bay,
I saw the Cornish sunset,
At the end of another Cornish day,
For I am forever Cornish,
And forever Cornish I will stay ...

Cornish Cove

Cornish Cove
Fishing
Ever wishing for a bigger catch
Lobster, Crab and Pollock and Bass

Fresh Air
Can be found there
So people come from near and far
And of course too many travel by car

On the beach
A paradise in reach
Please take away all your litter
Or You’ll leave the locals bitter

Cornish poem Cornish Shore

The Cornish shore …
Where golden sand lies next 
To dappled grey granite rock,
Where the sea breeze sweeps
And the mussels flock,
Where the rock pools gather
And the small crabs patrol,
Where the white foam curls
And the breakers roll,
Where the sea birds call
And the salt spray stings,
Where the seaweed sunbathes
And the limpet clings,
Where a stream’s course meanders,
And reflects the azure sky,
Where a starfish gazes skywards
And white clouds go scudding by.

By all means take treasured memories,
But please take nothing more, 
And leave nothing but your footprints
On this sacred Cornish shore …

Cornish Shore

The Cornish shore …
Where golden sand lies next 
To dappled grey granite rock,
Where the sea breeze sweeps
And the mussels flock,
Where the rock pools gather
And the small crabs patrol,
Where the white foam curls
And the breakers roll,
Where the sea birds call
And the salt spray stings,
Where the seaweed sunbathes
And the limpet clings,
Where a stream’s course meanders,
And reflects the azure sky,
Where a starfish gazes skywards
And white clouds go scudding by.

By all means take treasured memories,
But please take nothing more, 
And leave nothing but your footprints
On this sacred Cornish shore …

Cornish Tradesmen

Now, Cornish tradesmen do a proper job,
But they might not do it straight away,
For if they say they’ll do it ‘dreckly’,
There might be a slight delay …!

NB:  Although the ... English ‘directly’ 
       and the ………... Cornish ‘dreckly’ 
       sound very similar, they are poles
       apart in terms of meaning!

The Lady Down the Lane Craig Cornish Poetry Contest Slam

The lady down the lane

Who resides at Cottage Number 19 

The Ambulance just took away


I did not know her actual name

Nor where she came from

If in fact she even received vistors

Or had a family of her own

Nor where or when in fact 
her funeral will be held


The only thing i can recount

Is her garden was kept immaculate 

I can only hope

Someone's life she must have touched

Along the way just enough

To wish her well along her way

From this life

Into the next


And if her garden was anything to go by

Then heaven has just gained

A garden angel 

A rose devoid of thorns


22 March 2020
For Craig Cornish
Lady down the Lane
Poetrysoup Contest

Cornish Hen

The Hen
Goes cluck cluck cluck
Then comes the Crane
Selling his D refrain 
Hen react

The web is cobbled
The spiders finished their jobs
Out come the flies
Nature, tried to defy
He recant

Cyanide kills all the living
Chemical dreams 
Make the sane ones scream
Life moves on
Then care no more

As they live in poetic illusions
Or so it seems...

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