West Cornwall Writer Reflects on Storm Goretti in New Poem

A writer based in West Cornwall has shared a new poem written in response to Storm Goretti and its impact on Cornwall’s coast earlier this year.

Titled After Goretti, the poem reflects on the storm not only as an extreme weather event, but as a moment that forced a pause across coastal communities. Power cuts, blocked roads and fallen trees slowed daily life, leaving space for quieter acts of care and attention once the worst of the weather had passed.

The writer, David I. Hughes, says the storm felt different to others that regularly affect the Cornish coast. Living by the sea, he was struck by both the strength of the wind and the stillness that followed, particularly in the way neighbours listened more closely to forecasts, generators, and to one another.

Writing the poem became a way of responding to that moment, focusing on what the land absorbed, what was lost, and how people came together in practical, often understated ways. Rather than dramatic gestures, the poem highlights small acts of resilience such as checking on neighbours, sharing food and navigating disrupted lanes.

After Goretti is set in Cornwall in January 2026 and draws on familiar locations and landscapes, including gardens and coastal settings affected during the storm. It reflects a longer relationship between Cornwall’s coastal communities and volatile weather, shaped by repetition, loss and repair.

After Goretti

for Cornwall, January 2026

They named you Goretti —

a word for wind that would not leave,

a storm-door slammed against the Atlantic night,

a breath that broke from deep ocean’s lungs

and howled inland with measureless force.

Red warnings pulsed on screens,

sirens wailing in pockets,

an urgent voice in a winter’s dark.

And we listened.

First came the wind:

a hundred miles per hour, they said;

gusts that bowed the proud spine of trees

once rooted firm as prayer.

Trees older than our skylines

snapped like kindling;

gardens — Heligan, St Michael’s Mount —

left with skeletons where green stood.

The roar clashed with roofs,

blew out walls of small homes,

sent iron and timber singing

down narrow lanes at dawn,

tore power and water from doorsteps;

forces without face or shame

left transformers dark, pipelines mute,

and villages waiting, listening

for voices that took days to come.

One life lost beneath a fallen oak;

a caravan crushed under old wood’s lament.

Such numbers tell us almost nothing

about the human heart in storm-light:

old neighbours turn with torches

to check on those who are alone,

boots soft with mud tread paths

to share blankets and bread,

wires down but not the lines

of care between us.

Here in Cornwall, the sea’s salt breath

meets the land’s stubborn kindness:

we know the wind’s fury,

and we know how to gather after,

to shed grief like rain from wet hair,

to step over splintered root and rail

and lift each other into new day.

Listen —

the woodland whispers now in broken tongues,

the sea stills and speaks again,

and everywhere we rebuild

what cold could not take:

memory, voice, the stubborn tree

of community rising once more.

About the writer

David Hughes is a writer based in West Cornwall. His work is rooted in the landscapes, industries and weather systems of the Cornish coast, exploring themes of memory, listening and human resilience. He is the author of The Listener, a literary mystery collection, with further contemporary thrillers set in Cornwall forthcoming.