Sunday 27 March 2011

The Sunday Post.

The Old Pear Tree In Front Of The House.

Hullo ma wee blog,

Here's this weeks poem for Sunday.

Basking Shark.

To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,
To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea,
Is a thing that happened once {too often} to me.

But not too often - though enough. I count as gain,
That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain,
That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.

He displaced more than water. He shoggled* me,
Centuries back - this decadent townee,
Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree.

Swish up the dirt and, when it settles, a spring,
Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling,
Emerging from the slime of everything.

So who's the monster? The thought made me grow pale,
For twenty seconds while, sail after sail,
The tall fin slid away and then the tail.

Norman MacCaig. Dec 1967

*shook

3 comments:

Nicky said...

Another great poem! I rarely read poetry these days, but seeing just about any poem reminds me of my enjoyable days of English Literature at school - a nice reminder! And it's lovely to catch all the interesting offerings that you share in your Sunday Posts Alistair!

Morning's Minion said...

Several delightful words and phrases lept out at me in a quick reading: "slounge"--"tin-tacked with rain"--"shoggled".
Thank you for posting the photo of your pear tree. Our century old pear is having a frail spring.

Alistair said...

Nicky - I'm glad you're enjoying them. I'm having fun picking them out. I've never been much of a reader of poetry but he does have the knack of getting you to think and of making you see things easily missed, which I like.

MM - I'm glad you enjoy these too. He does have a nice turn of phrase doesn't he? The photo of the old pear tree is from last year but it's looking fit and healthy this year too. It's not quite as far on as this with the blossom as yet but maybe by the end of next week if the nice weather keeps up.

Thanks again ladies......

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