A taste of salt on the lips, granite underfoot, and a heartbeat that answers the surf. We bring you a richly textured reading of Headland by poet Jessica Klein-Gibaud, a piece that turns a simple shoreline into a mirror for the body and a ledger for time. Through crisp images of dense brown stones, white water sifting through fissures, and wind skimming the surface of the eyes, the poem guides us from sensation to insight without a single wasted word.
As we narrate, you’ll hear how small details carry big truths: cloth that clings to the pillar of a thigh, a crown-of-the-head thrum that syncs with the tide, a steady line of deep blue that makes our soft impermanence plain. Jessica’s language finds the quarter line where observer and landscape meet, then holds us there long enough to feel what changes. The coast is not scenery; it’s an active force shaping memory, attention, and humility. By aligning heartbeat with surf, the poem shows how nature can reset noisy minds and clarify what matters.
We share a few framing notes about Jessica’s eye for travel and observation, then let the poem do its work—clean, direct, and resonant. Whether you come for the imagery, the meditation on mortality, or the brief, bracing calm of a well-read lyric, you’ll leave with one indelible picture that sticks. Press play when you need three minutes of atmosphere that doesn’t drift, and if the final lines catch you the way they caught us, pass it on.
If this reading moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves poetry and place, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find their own headland.

This poem is available in Voice Within: a Storybook by Storytellers Edition II.

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