Channel Seascape
breathe in from your centre
breathe in from your core
she now says as we sit
on sweat-caked yoga mats
cross-legged in self-conscious
air-conditioned silence
now picture the sea
I think she means
insta-Bali wellness
holiday-brochure blue
lo-fi soundscapes on low
ubiquitous palm trees
but I conjure
a crowded horizon
tankers navigating
maritime ley lines as
they queue for Rotterdam
an army of wind farms
perched on World–War debris
rust-mauled Sherman tanks scrapped
and scuttled fathoms deep
lurching suction dredgers
that swallow up seabed
siphon sand and sea glass
to storm-hollowed beaches
tide breakers split open
spit out of alignment
rock rows cutting their teeth
on polar vortices
a listless battalion
of post-war high-rises
harried by gulls and gales
and rising sea levels
the boundless grey
a Tibetan bowl sings
incessant vibrations
so we shift our sit bones
coil up into Child’s Pose
and come back to the room
breathing from my centre
breathing from my core
Dilys Wyndham Thomas grew up in Belgium and Saudi Arabia and has lived in France, Germany, Jordan, the UK, and the Netherlands. Her work has appeared in journals, including Ink Sweat & Tears, Rust+Moth, Shooter, and Wild Roof Journal. Dilys is also an assistant poetry editor at Passengers Journal.