Seastairway
ofer waþema gebind–
‘The Wanderer’
We sail
a~a~a~the~the~the~the
sea-troughs~sea-tombs~seawalls
the~the~the~the~this~that~my
seafarer~seawalker~seasaint
her~their~sea-lamb~seafriend
wandered~outlined~holy~crowded
wait for it: waiting occurs
in waves put up and shut up
the hand is undomestic
at this scale: ice-dipped, might be
a beak, cormorant, gannet;
might be a scientific with~seabelled~seanight
instrument, ice-proof; is in in~seaful~seawind
a bind. you know, if you know, searoped~sea tongued~seagreat
you’ll put up and shut up. sleep over~seabord~seaside
only, sleep alone, brings hands down~seamist~seagrain
out of the scale of exile; seacircling~seabraes~seagentled
seaskin~early-white-haired
furious~sea-martyrdom~worth
seawork~surrounding~searopes
beside~emerald~seadeep~sea-show
sea-marching~to~sealaw~into
seaside’s~seabent~seawalls
fingerprints, in dreams, become
warmth in warmth, identified
and not identifiers.
who laps the swing of a sky seastrolling~find~seadoors
where triumph and vertigo into~seashelled~pulses
don’t lock down on darker eyes? sealogged~seachanged~through
calling~seaware~seavessels lie~break~seanight’s endured~seavessel~moves
seadogged~scaled~reined
bubbled~filled~wrecked
skidding~seafared~on
whispered~ put up and shut up. the gold
well~ of a horse of dreams canters
only~ the inheld field of my blood.
in your museums, I found
me, lady, right at your side.
seaport
About this poem
This poem was written as part of ‘The Blue Crevasse’ project, which marks the centenary of W.S. Graham in 2018. The image of a blue crevasse famously appears in W.S. Graham’s poem ‘Malcolm Mooney’s Land’, and the author’s estate welcomed the idea of creating a similar metaphorical space where admirers of the poet might, in a sense, be lowered for a month’s solitary ‘residency’.
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