WRITERS REUNITED
AN AFTERNOON OF POETRY AND PROSE WITH ELAINE CUSACK AND GEOFF SMITH
OCTOBER 2022
It’s been years since Elaine and Geoff first performed together in autumn 1985. This unique event brought them back together for a relaxed, poetic afternoon in one of Elaine’s fave hangouts, The Kings Head in Blyth. Elaine performed her teenage and adult poems and Geoff read his poems plus extracts from his forthcoming debut novel, Holy Disorder.
LONGSANDS
–
Mist descends as we walk along
the beach from Cullercoats to Tynemouth.
The first sea fret of the year
always catches us by surprise.
–
We stop to look at each other
and laugh at our wet curling hair.
We’ve wet skin too. Our morning walk is like
taking a cold Turkish bath fully clothed.
–
The foghorn is all around us:
an insistent, lonesome wind instrument
crying for adoption by an orchestra;
howling for a home and a family.
–
The loud sound resonates in our chests
and our hearts. It connects us with
our seaside companeros and their dogs
exercising together on Longsands.
–
Listen to the sound of our coastline.
Can our cousins hear the foghorn
hundreds of nautical miles away
in Bergen, Esbjerg and Stavanger?
–
Elaine Cusack
