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We sprinkled salt over chips
Squeezed a wedge over battered fish
Wrapped them in paper your dad left behind
Then you smiled with a mouthful
Spat out a laugh and said
See, we can still have summer
You moved different after that
Like sunshine through wind
Skipping when we lined our stairs with shells
Giggling as we ate ice creams from mugs
Dancing when we covered the carpet with sand
Only stopping to dig the sands beneath you
Like your granddad wasn’t wholly gone
That you were six again
And this was the coast of Cornwall
Like maybe you could find him
Floating in the pooling water
Stuck to life like seaweed on rocks
That you could wrap him round a bucket
And show it to your father
But he’s away on pints of bleach
Passed out on benches by the kitchen sink
And you’ll need the summer then
The warm embrace of those clear blue skies
A barrowful of kisses - from a haze laden harvest
And for the laziest of sunshine to finally come running
Poem written in response to the featured image by Naomi Jade Textiles
