Poem of the month - July 2008

Midsummer I wanted to send you a poem today. A poem with night and day in it, but above all day. A poem unlike the next one that I’m going to write, about climbing Earl’s Seat, about getting lost, found, about the scree and how the hills look different up there. About the man with his young son, the man who wanted to know the time, the picnickers who looked as if they’d been expecting us. About how later, we lay in bed, our faces close, burning, deepening, so close, as close as the midsummer sky and dark buildings ever are. Gerry McGrath from A to B (Carcanet 2008) Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the Poet Gerry McGrath is married with one son.  He lives in North Ayrshire.

Inspiration for poem I tried to remain faithful to a sense of rhythm.  At other times it hardly seems to matter – emphasis falls on the narrative.  The Polish poets, Herbert and Szymborska, for example. Their genius is to understand the link between rhythm and language as one of duty. For them, prosody is always faithful.