Jane Routh
The Elizabeth Ann
i.m. John Routh
Now all the other visitors have left
I can hear the ache of parched timbers.
Look: here I am on CCTV
running my hand along the strakes
and tapping on the copper nails
you hammered in.
New warps are neatly coiled along her decks.
Listen: the alarm; uniformed footsteps
running up the stairs. Too late:
my foot’s on the gunwale,
I’m on board,
pull the tiller over hard.
She casts herself off.
The Haven unsilts.
I gybe and ease the sheets
and sails that have hung slack
in the airless hall for years
gulp salt air and belly out
in the following wind.
She storms through the Hessle Whelps
for the open sea. There are no charts
for sands that shifted then
but who cares, who cares,
it’s in the blood. Isn’t it?
Circumnavigation (Smith/Doorstop 2002) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection.
Page(s) 6
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