A HANDSOME little booklet entitled Journey, featuring one continuous poem by John Horn, was short-listed for the latest Callum Macdonald Memorial Award for poetry pamphlets, run by the National Library of Scotland (Hestan Isle Press). Here is the start of the journey’s watery momentum from orbs of dew, to river, to sea.
JOURNEY
In the beginning
cool air bequeaths
small orbs of dew
and gentle tears
of morning rain.
This is where rills
commence their little turbulence
where space and time
curl small waters together
where particles of liquid light
conjoin to rivulets
portending greater flow.
Here is the womb of rivers
whose falling water would become
seared beneath a too hot sun
abandoning the land
leaving only deserts of the heart.
But in temperate climes
the low burn
glistens an evening sky
rippling around low stones
although it can torrent fields
emptying them of livestock.
Alongside a small foam
at eventide
a curlew calls
its cry mourning down
to a meagre nest
whilst a dog barks faintly
Across distant fields. . .
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