The Overhaul by Kathleen Jamie

Author:Kathleen Jamie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55597-902-7
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2014-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

Roses

for M D

This is the moment the roses

cascade over backstreet walls,

throng the public parks –

their cream or scrunched pinks

unfolding now to demonstrate

unacknowledged thought.

The world is ours too! they brave,

careless of tomorrow

and wholly without leadership

for who’d mount a soap-box

on the rose-behalf?

‘I haggle for my little

portion of happiness,’

says each flower, equal, in the scented mass.

The Overhaul

Look – it’s the Lively,

hauled out above the tideline

up on a trailer with two

flat tyres. What –

14 foot? Clinker-built

and chained by the stern

to a pile of granite blocks,

but with the bow

still pointed westward

down the long voe,

down toward the ocean,

where the business is.

Inland from the shore

a road runs, for the crofts

scattered on the hill

where washing flaps,

and the school bus calls

and once a week or so

the mobile library;

but see how this

duck-egg green keel’s

all salt-weathered,

how the stem, taller

– like a film star –

than you’d imagine,

is raked to hold steady

if a swell picks up

and everyone gets scared …

No, it can’t be easy,

when the only spray to touch

your boards all summer

is flowers of scentless mayweed;

when little wavelets leap

less than a stone’s throw

with your good name

written all over them –

but hey, Lively,

it’s a time-of-life thing,

it’s a waiting game –

patience, patience.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.