Poems After Martin Hearne, by Doug Sandle

Great Union Camera, by Martin Hearne (Isle of Man) 2019

Camera Obscura

Poised on the headland,                                                                                                                          
a wooden tented circular corridor
its mirrored cubicles bringing the outside                                                             
in with scenes from around the corner;
the yellowed green and brown of cliff tops,                                                                                                               
a busy funnelled harbour,                                                                               
seagulls that clamour and sweep above                                                                           
weathered benches where walkers                                                                        
rest to peer lazily out to sea.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Obscured, Edwardian tourists                                                                       
would eagerly spy on bathers                                                                                           
cavorting in the sea pools below,                                                                          
or else searched for couples                                                                                                                                                                   cuddling on summer warmed slopes. 
                                           
Inside, I think of Foucault’s and Bentham’s                                                          
surveying panopticons and as I move                                                                        
from cubical to cubical and from                                                                        
glass imaged screen to screen,                                                                           
the foot stained wooden floor                                                                    
trembles and persistently creaks.
    
There is a sense of an unwelcome presence,                                                                                 
following in the magical and flickering dark.                 

Morning Cuppa, by Martin Hearne (Isle of Man) 2021

The Morning After

A chance meeting, a night together sleeping                                                                    
in holiday cuddles of middle-aged love.                                                          
With an early breakfast cuppa,                                                                                  
she reveals her doubts as he listens                                                                                    
as best he can. In the cold light of day,                                                           
they wonder why they were so eager                                                                        
and at what price they might have to pay. 
Will it last, was it worth it,                                                                                          
should they do it again?                                                                                              
The answer is there plain to see,                                                                                 
soft fleshy balloons,                                                                                                
erect ice cream.                                                                                                        
It was all just a Freudian dream.
​

Saucy Postcards, by Martin Hearne (Isle of Man) 2022

Postcard to Home 
 
Two young Irish maids, one of many                                                                                
required during summer seasons.                                                           
Temporary come-overs working in hotels,                                                                                                      
boarding houses and holiday camps.                                                                                
Some were lucky, considered                                                                                                 
one of the family, others exploited;                                                                                                                    
laying tables, serving meals,
washing up, fetching groceries,                                                                                                      
looking after children, folding sheets
beating carpets, scrubbing floors                                                                                                         
walking the dogs and emptying                                                                                                  
piss pots for a pittance. 
Time off and a postcard home                                                                                         
to friends and family provides                                                                                 
some solace, searching for one to send.                                                                                                
But garish jokes are edgy                                                                                                
with misplaced fun not kind to some.                                                                                  
Wish you were here. No not for them,                                                                                               
Wish we were there. Back home.   
​                                                                                                                                            

Day for Night, by Martin Hearne (Isle of Man) 2021

A Changing Moment

Fairy lights and hotel windows                                                                                               
cascade along the promenades,                                                                                   
their evening summer glow                                                                                              
edging the sea-side sand.
Couples dance on palace polished                                                         
floors as orchestras replay their youth.                                                        
Others gather on crowded deck chairs,                                                       
sharing their shading shadows                                                                             
to watch a full moon rising.
Dark clouds gather,                                                                                        
the moment already fading.           
    

Meeting on The Shore, by Martin Hearne (Isle of Man) 2021

Holiday Meeting  
                                                                                
Showing off, the tight trunked boys,                                                                                
come in from the sea and face the girls,                                                                           
who have deftly escaped by leaving                                                                          
their parents in smoky pubs                                                                                    
and cake sweet cafés.                                                                                                   
The trio of girls shyly eye the bathers,                                                                
until with more lascivious looks                                                                                
the young Romeos will sit with them                                                                                              
in promenade shelters, breathing in their
heady perfumes to steal an eager kiss.                                                                     
Hiding their teenage fears                                                                                                 
and the holiday tears to come.                                                                                     
                                                         
Doug Sandle

​Doug Sandle is a writer, a psychologist and a former university academic. He has been published intermittently over the years, including once sharing a poetry page with Harold  Pinter. More recently his poetry has appeared in The New European, The Ekphrastic Review, Poetry and Covid and the anthology The View from Olympia (poems on Olympic sports). He has also written short stories and plays, including a BBC and Radio New Zealand broadcast. He was born and brought up on the Isle of Man.