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  • The Whale-watcher
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The Whale-watcher

Kathleen Jamie

And when at last the road
gives out, I’ll walk –
harsh grass, sea-maws,
lichen-crusted bedrock –

and hole up the cold
summer in some battered
caravan, quartering
the brittle waves

till my eyes evaporate
and I’m willing again
to deal myself in:
having watched them

breach, breathe, and dive
far out in the glare,
like stitches sewn in a rent
almost beyond repair.


Kathleen Jamie

from The Tree House (Picador, 2004)

Reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Tags:

hobbies National Poetry Day 2013 seashore whales and dolphins
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Kathleen Jamieb.1962

Kathleen Jamie is a poet, essayist and travel writer. She has been Professor of Poetry at the University of Stirling since 2010.
More about Kathleen Jamie

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