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Kent (2)
by R L Tilley

Jesters on the streets of Canterbury - jellyfish on the shores of Shell Ness - the women in the tea garden over the Slope and the Street - walks on the Street - dog barking in the wind - the tide encroaching - crab and Dover sole and potted shrimps at the Whitstable Oyster Company - Friday night crying on the wind out of the Neptune pub - two young men walking by the sea wall hail the dog and I - the sun going down over the bay, the sky streaked with a roseate glow - dark, almost black romantic figures silhouetted against sunset sea and sky through the restaurant window - girl with balloon - man rocking baby in his arms - the Duke of Cumberland pub, its stable yard and ornate function room - pints of Bishop’s Finger in the evenings, but most of all the light, the light going down over the Ooze, the Swale, oh - Tankerton slopes where the hogs fennel grows - and, from the beach on Sheppey, Reculver Towers loom, distant. Long Rock, where we didn’t go this time - St Agnes fish market - the harbour and aggregate and water sprays and vanished museums - oysters in the bay - vistas of big skies and deceptive gentle sea and sucking mud flats and oyster catchers and black headed gulls and now, these gentle days in the light are done. We go. Amen.