During my writing residency at Short & Sweet in Wimborne (you can read about it here), I was contacted by landscape designer Barbara Uphoff to write a poem for a plaque. Barbara developed the new seaside garden at Flaghead Chine in Poole and wanted to incorporate poetry into the design.
The garden is approached through the wooded and shady chine and it acts as a connection between the land and the sea. Constructed with Purbeck Stone planters, boulders and seating, the garden is positioned beside the sandy beach and gives views to Harry’s Rock across the water.
Old Harry’s Rock from Pixabay
The garden is intended as a meeting point for family and friends where children can enjoy quiet play thanks to the three seashell structures. The sculptors Phil Bews and Diane Gorvins created small scale models of a whelk, an ammonite and a sea urgin which the stonemasons, Albion Stone, were able to use in making the large shells.
My poem appears on a brushed metal plaque attached to one of the boulders. Barbara and I agreed the the poem should be a haiku to celebrate the natural environment. You can read it here:
It was an honour to write the poem and I am delight to see it positioned in the seaside garden as public art.
the writer is a lonely hunter 
What a wonderful story. Loved the haiku also; 5-7-5 syllables that even rhyme. Well done!!
how fabulous Gail, what a lovely haiku and how wonderful to have it permanently displayed
Thank you – I’m pretty chuffed at my poetry appearing as a piece of public art.
How lovely, Gail, to give beauty and peace to the world.
This is wonderful Gail, I am looking forward to seeing it for real.