For Huw
I
on the dull density
of that wide beach
Merthyr Mawr
part of my childhood existing
beyond memory
one black and white photo
slightly out of focus
like an old tattoo
bleeding back into the skin
the photo is proof
I sat smiling on that forlorn strand
in a car sculpted
by my father’s hand
perched in the front seat
triumphant yet again
over my younger twin
banished to the sand car’s
cramped dickie seat
resentment etched in his frown
us attended by the black and white border collie
not our dog
II
now as my young son sits
on the hot tropical sand
Noosa air thick as treacle
the day as likely or not
recorded on multiple devices
remembered this time
I begin by burying his legs
with no great purpose
slowly I begin to sculpt
a car around him
other children join I stack
them one behind the other
transform the car into a bus
six children stacked
legs buried in the sand
to the crowd’s delight
they wriggle and squirm
break free in an eruption
III
the continuum stretched halfway
across the world halfway
across last century
my patrimony
in genes and memories
my hope you’ll be like me
a better man than your father