Heat and Sound - Development of a Poem

Heat and Sound was written over a long period with several revisions. I put the following together for a fellow writer to show how the poem developed from the original draft to the piece as it currently exists.

 

I tend to agree with the comment that poems are not finished, they are abandoned, so this may not be the last ever version, but that is not the intention of this entry.

Heat and Sound

This is a simple poem, but was not simple to write. It has gone through several revisions to get to this point.
The original was written after a visit to Piha beach near Auckland, New Zealand.

Heat and Sound
Piha, 30th December 2005

The only movement is a line of surf
Beyond the heat,
Beneath the looming cliffs.

The sand, furnaced beneath my feet,
Black, or rather, chocolate brown,
Glints as every facet
Captures rays of scorching Sun.

Flame red pohutukawa
Shade the dunes, in pools of cool
Where I sit, exhausted,
Under their domes,

Listening
To the sound of sea over the beach
Dragging on each dislodged grain.

© Martin Porter 2006