Comments for page "Stand And Stare" http://lategrowth.wikidot.com/stand-and-stare/comments/show http://lategrowth.wikidot.com/stand-and-stare/comments/show#post-11280 Whale -watcher http://lategrowth.wikidot.com/stand-and-stare/comments/show#post-11280 Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:10:26 +0000 Grey Granite 9907 This poem describes another way, being totally enthralled, being held in thrall, by the natural world, or whatever grabs the attention totally, into the state of one pointed concentration

The Whale-watcher by Kathleen Jamie

Saturday October 9, 2004
The Guardian

And when at last the road
gives out, I'll walk -
harsh grass, sea-maws,
lichen-crusted bedrock -
and hole up the cold
summer in some battered
caravan, quartering
the brittle waves

till my eyes evaporate
and I'm willing again
to deal myself in:
having watched them

breach, breathe, and dive
far out in the glare,
like stitches sewn in a rent
almost beyond repair.

· From The Tree House by Kathleen Jamie, winner of the 2004 Forward prize for best collection, published by Picador at £8.99

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