Welcome to Week Three of National Poetry Month! This week our theme is Color… and I was so excited about that!
When I think of color and poetry, one beloved poet comes to my mind, Derek Walcott. I know of no other poet who has the thread of color weaving through so many of his poems and I have immersed myself deeply in his works… I don’t ever need an excuse to read any of his poetry, but a deep dive into his expansive works is always treat!
The poem I have selected today is from Walcott’s White Egrets, a book which contains a plethora of color-infused poems. The vivid picture he draws me into in this one is one I’d like to linger in. You will find more about Derek Walcott here.
53.
by Derek Walcott
The hulls of white yachts riding the orange water
of the marina at dusk, and, under their bowsprits, the chuckle
of the chain in the stained sea; try to get there
before a green light winks from the mast, the fo’c’s’le
blazes with glare, while dusk hangs in suspension
with crosstrees and ropes and lilac-livid sky,
with its beer stein of cloud-froth touched by the sun,
as stars come out to watch the evening die.
In this orange hour the light reads like Dante,
three lines at a time, their symmetrical tension,
quiet bars rippling from the Paradiso
as a dingy writes lines made by the scanty
metro of its oar strokes, and we, so
mesmerized, can barely talk. Happier
than any man now is the one who sits drinking
wine with his lifelong companion under the winking
stars and the steady arc lap at the end of the pier.
White Egrets, 53. Copyright © 2010 by Derek Walcott.
Make sure you stop and see what color Kym, Bonny, and Sarah have to infuse your day with!
I was hoping you would be sharing some Derek Walcott poetry this week when you had the books in a photo yesterday, and this one doesn’t disappoint! I love how he brings so many colors into the poem, and I especially like the Dante lines. It’s a grey day here but you’ve started it off quite colorfully!
Always love Derek Walcott! So evocative . . . Thanks for sharing this colorful poem, Kat.
This is such a perfect poem for me to read today, because just this morning while I was walking and listening to How to Say Babylon, Derek Walcott came up! His poetry really has such a strong sense of place (and, in this one, of the colors of that place).
the best part of poetry sharing is that I get to learn about some poets!! Lovely poem 🙂
What beautiful description and metaphor in this poem. Thank you Kat.