Saturday, December 06, 2008

a poem for december




Mid-december and pewter-coloured water, burning to the touch, kills most thoughts of paddling. But it's a time to remember, plan and read poems about this crazy magnificent coastline.




cliffs


and a thin green


cover. like


dinosaurs crouching under a rug. then




through the rowdy narrows


a sunlit bay: spits, shoals and islands, white


birds lifting out of the blue. no




centre. no shadows here. no lines


leading anywhere. waves


capes scrub-tufts shift, shuffle




under the open sky




(John Steffler in "The Grey Islands, Brick Books. 2000. John Steffler was the former Canadian poet laureate).

8 comments:

Michael said...

Lovely! Thanks, Alison. I'm just in from a walk on the hills behind the house, the ground very much the scaley back of a sleeping dinosaur, hard and unwalkable, the snowflakes in the air confusing all the lines and making us pull our necks into our jackets. I think it's coming...

Deborah Carr said...

a lovely meditation for a winter's day.

Alison Dyer said...

I recommend reading John Steffler. His 'Grey Islands' his fantastic - as is his 'that night we were passionate.'

Grey Islands is also available as an audio book through Rattling Books :)

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Douglas Wilcox said...

Excellent Alison,

we are lucky here and are still able to get out. Last weekend we finished in the dark and -3C but thre was little wind, so it was quite bearable.

Douglas

Alison Dyer said...

Douglas
I expect nothing less than you're being able to get out 12 months of the year! You help keep us sane. Still, it has been extraordinary here (100mm rain in one day last week; 16 degrees C today). Wind, however, is a major factor in staying on land. Although other paddlers here are still on the water. Brrr. Alison

Anonymous said...

John Steffler is still Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate until April 2009. He is the third person to be appointed to this position.

Alison Dyer said...

Thank you Kitty for correcting my error(s). I should have known this, particularly since I - in my former position as President of WANL - had suggested that we put forth our nomination of Paul as Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate. And thanks for dropping by. Alison