It’s been ages since I joined in on the fun  of Poetry Friday, mostly because I spent a good chunk of this year finishing off and submitting my doctoral thesis exploring – you guessed it – children’s poetry. Now that my thesis, Belonging: A Place in and For Children’s Poetry has been examined and accepted and I am officially a doctor, I’ve been thinking for a few weeks that I must get around to jumping back in some Friday.

 

And then a weird piece of synchronicity happened this morning. I was walking on the beach, as I do most days, and admiring the various treasures on the sand. Some days there is little but sand on the shore and I instead admire the clouds, or the sparkling water, or the dolphins, or my thoughts, but some days, like today, the sea has abandoned something like this :

or this:

or even this:

for me to stop and admire (and photograph of course).

 

And the words of a poem of mine, Trash and Treasure started running through my head, and I knew that I should share the poem today for Poetry Friday, even though I knew I’d shared it before. So I came home, and here I am about to write this post, when I realised that not only have I shared the poem before, but I shared it this week a year ago!  SO whether it is that this is the week of the year that the sea likes to prompt poetry, or whether it is sheer coincidence, I know I am meant to re-share Trash and Treasure with you here today. Enjoy!

And, for those who would prefer a text version, here it is:

 

Trash and Treasure

Each night

the sea deposits her rubbish

along the shore:

shells, sponge

even a starfish she no longer needs.

In the morning

her trash becomes my treasure.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

It’s so lovely to back participating in Poetry Friday again. You can find the round up at A Day in the Life, where you will find links to other blogs having fun with Poetry Friday.