Whatever The Sea

‘Whatever The Sea’, another Scottish Poetry book, by Polygon, an imprint of my favourite publishers, Birlinn, in association with The Scottish Poetry Library.

An anthology of poems reflecting on age, by 35 of Scotland’s best-loved poets. Several of the poems refer to the sea, and sailing boats…

This is the poem from which the title was taken, and one of several which I chose as motivation for the final artwork.

At Eighty

Push the boat out, compañeros,
push the boat out, whatever the sea.
Who says we cannot guide ourselves
through the boiling reefs, black as they are,
the enemy of us all makes sure of it!
Mariners, keep good watch always
for that last passage of blue water
we have heard of and long to reach
(no matter if we cannot, no matter!)
in our eighty-year-old timbers
leaky and patched as they are but sweet
well seasoned with the scent of woods
long perished, serviceable still
in unarrested pungency
of salt and blistering sunlight. Out,
push it all out into the unknown!
Unknown is best, it beckons best,
like distant ships in mist, or bells
clanging ruthless from stormy buoys.

Edwin Morgan

The proofs & finished work are on display at the workshop: www.lomenechgill.com

For more information about the book: www.birlinn.co.uk/Whatever-the-Sea.html

And to find more poems like this: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk

 

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