Lemonhound is currently conducting a series of interviews with poets on their relationship to beauty. The series kicks off with a deeply fascinating interview with poet, editor and online experimenter, Sachiko Murakami, who opens by selecting a poem from 2012 Arts QLD Poet-in-Residence, a.rawlings, as one that resonates with her as beautiful. Having read this poem on many occasions and having seen it performed, I felt a a great connection to her choice.
It also inspired me to share a poem that I continue to find, genuinely beautiful…
THE GATHERING LIGHT
by Robert Adamson
Morning shines on the cowling of the Yamaha
locked onto the stern of the boat,
spears of light shoot away
from the gun-metal grey enamel.
Now I wait for God to show
instead of calling him a liar.
I’ve just killed a mulloway –
it’s eighty five pounds, twenty years old –
the huge mauve-silver body trembles in the hull.
This is one of the finest meditations on life, I have ever read; a compelling poem, edged with darkness. A poem that I will always return to.
So in the spirit of sharing, I would love to hear about the poems that you revisit to find beauty. There can never be enough beauty in this life…
Another Lost Shark 
I keep coming back to the poems of Judith Beveridge, among many, especially those in her Storm and Honey. There is such a clarity of diction there, and an unwithering gaze that just strikes through me.
’tis a great collection that one. would recommend it to anybody!
I have a review of Storm and Honey if anyone’s interested, at:
http://www.phillipaellis.com/reviews-storm-and-honey-judith-beveridge/
Quite enjoyed Robert Adamson’s poem…thanks for the link.
Thanks for the link Graham – I enjoyed the poem and the sadness and the thought of inevitability. This is my favourite poem of all time –
http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/the_destruction_of_sennacherib.html
Cheers
yes, mr adamson has MANY superb poems, at least 100 that i know of — i know he’s a fan of bob dylan, and i think he’s made himself into this country’s dylan, in that he has given so much for so long [more so than, say, paul kelly. so far!] anyhoo, here’s a poem i discovered not that long ago, and that haunts me with a dark beauty, and that i’ve revisited many times. onya, mr nunn!
I Go Back to May 1937
by Sharon Olds
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176442
[read it on the screen first, before you listen to it, i say!]
oh brother, that poem floored me. printed it and will read it many more times.
ah, sweet. 🙂 the fine words are around and about…see ya soon!