George Mackay Brown
When George Mackay Brown had his first collection The Storm published by the Orkney Press in 1954. Edwin Muir wrote in the forward: "Grace is what I find in these poems."
Weather Bestiary
The unicorn melts through his prism. Sodden hooves
Have deluged the corn with light.
A fisherman wets his finger. The eyelash
Of the grey stallion flicks his blood with cold.
A hard summer. The month I sat at the rock
One fish rose, belly up, a dead gleam.
Thunder
Corn, lobster, fleece hotly harvested—now
That whale stranded on the blue rock!
Stiff windless flower, hearse-blossom,
Show us the brightness of blood, stars, apples.
The sun-dipped isle was suddenly a sheep
Lost and stupid, a dense wet tremulous fleece.
Autumn, a moulted parrot, eyes with terror
This weird white cat. It drifts the rose-bush under.
From Poems, New and Selected, The Hogarth Press. 1971.
Snow
The young men went
xxxxxxxxHere and there, secret
xxxxxAt star-time.
xxxxxxxxxBlack swirls--a sudden
Blanket of snow!
xxxxxxxxxAnd the blank
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAt dawn, a maze
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOf silvery tell-tale trystings.
George Mackay Brown. from Voyages
Weather Bestiary
Rain
The unicorn melts through his prism. Sodden hooves
Have deluged the corn with light.
Wind
A fisherman wets his finger. The eyelash
Of the grey stallion flicks his blood with cold.
Sun
A hard summer. The month I sat at the rock
One fish rose, belly up, a dead gleam.
Thunder
Corn, lobster, fleece hotly harvested—now
That whale stranded on the blue rock!
Frost
Stiff windless flower, hearse-blossom,
Show us the brightness of blood, stars, apples.
Fog
The sun-dipped isle was suddenly a sheep
Lost and stupid, a dense wet tremulous fleece.
Snow
Autumn, a moulted parrot, eyes with terror
This weird white cat. It drifts the rose-bush under.
From Poems, New and Selected, The Hogarth Press. 1971.
Snow
The young men went
xxxxxxxxHere and there, secret
xxxxxAt star-time.
xxxxxxxxxBlack swirls--a sudden
Blanket of snow!
xxxxxxxxxAnd the blank
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAt dawn, a maze
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOf silvery tell-tale trystings.
George Mackay Brown. from Voyages
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Comments
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"Rain," "Snow" and "Fog" are my favorites here, plus the title: I'll be looking up Mr. Brown for the chance of finding more surprises. Thanks, Steve!Posted 12-18-2010 at 07:03 AM by Ed Shacklee 
