Eday, North Isles

GUITH
              a greylag morning,
              the sea a conscious blue.


CALF SOUND
              orca
              in a sea blue room,
              breathing pearls that rise to the surface.


GROATHA
              the plenum of the shed:
              every part infilled with flutter,
              glass, sheep turd, gusts of damp.


GREENTOFT
              gunshot punctures a field
              of geese, their clackety rise
              a flock of helicopters.


THE SETTER STONE
               an old man steps out of the ground
               all lines and angles,
               sun snagged in his beard. 


MILLCROFT
              a tree softened house:
              red willow, alder, pine,
              eucalyptus rooting.


WARNESS
              a stream hole
              a pure, dense fall; 
              one ocean falling into another.


PLANTATION
             wren, silver lark, crow
             woody snipe, curlew, hen hawk
             day owl, starling. 


SOUTH END
              the Varagen, beaded with spotlights
              curves through the dark
              round great holes in the sea


WARD HILL
               climbing with the moon,
               the wind blowing round my mouth—
               a low note, like an owl. 


 

Copyright Credit: Lesley Harrison, "Eday, North Isles" from Blue Pearl. Copyright © 2017 by Lesley Harrison.  Reprinted by permission of Lesley Harrison.