This Week's 'Poem of the Day' . . .

 

 

EXPLORING THE ORINOCO

With the Thames in their hearts,
and childhood fevers in common,
my father and his dead brother
explored the Orinoco.

The boat of my father’s faith
carried them upstream
to the port of Encaramada,
past the granite domes
of Punta Curiquima.

There, on a deserted island,
they camped for the night,
sitting on the scattered husks
of turtle shells,
reading in the moonlight,
and dining. A faint stink
of rotting crocodiles
corroded the air.

During the night, a jaguar
added discord to the howling
of their dogs,
and cataracts answered
the rumbles overhead.

Once, a small black monkey,
like a widow in mourning,
returned the sweet, sceptical smile
of my father’s brother
as he glanced up
from his beloved Darwin.
With a pencil, he underlined
a few words; then disappeared
into the forest
of my father’s mind,
where their mother’s grief
(one boy saved, one lost)
left him bereft.

— Alan Payne, 'Exploring the Orinoco' (Smith/Doorstop, 2010)

 

 

 

Archive of weekly Poem of the Day

> Gerard Benson, 'Ghosts' (A Good Time, 2010)

> John Lyons, 'A Poem for My Father' (No Apples in Eden, 2009)

> Dorothy Nimmo, 'Last Thing at Night' (The Wigbox, 2000)

> Catherine Smith, 'Postulant' (first published in North 33)

> Allison McVety, 'In the Reading Room at the British Library' (Miming Happiness, 2010)

> John McAuliffe, 'Continuity' (A Midgie, 2010)

> Andrea Holland, 'On Hearing a Jazz Trio Play Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana' (Borrowed, 2007)

> Simon Armitage, 'The English Astronaut' (The Motorway Service Station... 2010)

> Sally Baker, 'House' (The Sea and the Forest, 2009)

> Geoff Hattersley, 'Christmas Shopping' (Back of Beyond, 2006)

> John Lyons, 'A Grandmother's Home-Rule' (No Apples in Eden, 2009)

> Yvonne Green, 'Ghetto Blaster' (Boukhara, 2008)

> Michael Laskey, 'The Door' (The Man Alone, 2008)

> Catherine Smith, 'How it All Started' (Lip, 2007)

> Mike Di Placido, 'Best' (Theatre of Dreams, 2009)

> Michael Schmidt, 'Choosing a Guest' (Collected Poems, 2009)

> Michael McCarthy, 'At the Races' (At the Races, 2009)

> Anna Woodford, 'The Tree' (Party Piece, 2009)

> Carole Bromley, 'A Jewish Giant at Home with his Parents' (Skylight, 2009)

> Sally Goldsmith, 'You'll Know Her' (Singer, 2009)

 

 

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