‘Water over Stone’ by Laura Jan Shore published by Interactive Press, Brisbane in 2011.
I have so many books, it’s time again to clear space for my new ones. If I buy new shelves, it won’t solve the problem – I have a very small home. So.
Faced with such a hard job and before I give my copy to someone else to enjoy, just as my poetic friend and colleague Glen Phillips gave me this one, I hope to convince you to buy your own copy.
Opening stanza includes my favourite tree; a Jacaranda: ‘Leaning up against this gnarled tree,/bark shredded/and dangling like loose skin,/’ .
After 44 life-exposing pieces, I found the last poem didn’t seem to fit with the journey, but seemed to be included to placate someone else…
Personally, the book ended nicely for me just before the last with my favourite car, although not a car in this last stanza of ‘Jaguar’: ‘ …and the laws of balance snap/the tender neck/of my desolate/youth.’
But it’s all about the page 44 for me and the stand-out poem by Laura Jan Shore from ‘Water over Stone’.
Embracing The Wind
Whipped to a froth, surf
suds the shore.
Wings churn as the crown, blown back,
surrenders and shifts course.
The echo of your words clatter
with dry leaves against stone.
The gum tree groans. Parrots cuddle
three pairs in the banksia.
Air tangles my hair, clutches at
my clothes and like your strong hands
curved around my waist, shoves me
towards the rocky point.
Unresisting, I rush headlong
into swirls of sand
chafing my ankles like the harsh
intimacies of our long marriage,
grit between my teeth.
Eyelids at half-mast, arms akimbo
my tousled thoughts
rinse clear.
This spring quickening
all biff and bluster
unfurls my ragged nerves.
None of the houses we’ve built
can shelter us from these gusts,
so unlatch the door and join me
in this great whoosh –
see how the crow glides now,
wings outstretched
sustained by the wind?
Laura Jan Shore © 2011
(Laura’s latest books are available from Dangerously Poetic Press.)
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