John Cooper Clarke's poem for the UK coast released for National Poetry Day

The National Trust-commissioned Nation’s Ode to the Coast was written by Cooper Clarke – with help from the British public – and is a celebration of time and tide, and bucket and spade

He can’t swim and by his own admission prefers to keep his trousers on at the seaside, but that hasn’t stopped Dr John Cooper Clarke from penning an ode to the UK coastline … with a bit of help from the British public.

Commissioned by the National Trust to celebrate 50 years of its Neptune Coastline campaign, the Nation’s Ode to the Coast began taking shape this summer when the poet wrote the opening verses of the poem. The public were then asked to submit social media posts that summed up their love of the coast, in the form of words, pictures or sounds, using the #lovethecoast hashtag.