Monday, January 14, 2013

The Illustrated Rough Spun to Close Weave: the Bunting Tapes


"After sixty years of fairly good work without pay, I haven’t even a house of my own to die in.”  
Bunting, at 79, describing conditions "an honest poet must expect".



The Bunting Tapes
(With thanks to Richard Swigg and Don Share)

A northern voice insists we hold to windward.
So late in the season, sleet on the dark,
clothes sodden, fingers swollen
fumbling familiar tasks
the craft shifts and squirms,
battering a hostile sea.

Tired eyes stare for the journey’s end.
Easier to turn and run with the tide.
Easier to find a safe haven now.
Easier to wait for a favourable wind.

And when is the wind ever right
for the stars you choose to steer by?

From 'Rough Spun to Close Weave', available from Ginninderra press: http://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/poetry.html

No comments: