Lochan
(For Jean Johnstone)
When all this is over I mean to travel north, by the high
drove roads and cart tracks probably in June,
with the gentle dog-roses flourishing beside me. I mean
to find among the thousands scattered in that land
a certain quiet lochan, where water lilies rise
like small fat moons, and tied among the reeds,
underneath a rowan, a white boat waits.
Poet Kathleen Jamie's crystalline, clear-eyed observations of the close up world have been described as an act of resistance in a vastly inattentive world. Here, a trip to a hidden lochan – a small lake – is a quiet escape from the humdrum demands of a busy life.
Things to ponder: How does the poet create a sense of journeying through the landscape? And how does she build a feeling of refuge? Lochan…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2024