it’s in a storm. The wind is gale force; the rocks sharp
and dangerous. How quickly things can change! On a calm day you can paddle
about in a kayak. In a storm like this nobody puts to sea.
One of my poems, Storm, relates to a seascape like this
– in all its dangerous magnificence!
Storm
Sea birds, sentinels, fleeing the black storm brewing in
the Strait cry out their warnings what’s up ahead:
the rising wind
the stinging sand
the bone-chilling rain the lightning-strikes: the beach
a killing zone?
The soul says:
Shall we see light?
Torrents wash us clean?
Wind blow through our mind?
Shall we know ourselves the storm over and gone? The
beach still, the sea calm rainbow preaching peace? Shalôm?
This can serve as a metaphor for life: when storms blow
up, they can, as the poem suggests, bring whole new perspectives on life –
hopefully for good.
Or be our undoing.
Here in NZ/Wellington my daughter-in-law is about to
give birth to her first child, a son. In England my brother David has just
recently died. And much else.
As we come through all such things, will whole new perspectives
open up for us? That, roughly, is what the poem is about.
I hope this rings bells for the reader. In any event,
the poems in Heartscapes are about exploring real life.
Our word ‘poetry’ comes from the greek poisesis which
means something made or an artefact. In one way, that’s what a poem is. But it
also asks us what we make of life. Does it have beauty and meaning – like a
poem?
Raymond Pelly, Wellington, NZ
9 July 2021
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