At Pictou
Pinpoints of light mimic startled flashes
from watery reflections, down, then up
to nightfall’s limit
and the Causeway pierces an ancient route
learned from daring explorers,
their bouncing ships crunching on Nova Scotian
soil…
Scott’s lumbering trucks with yesterday’s
windfall
trunks of forest-memories,
huge loads of felled wilderness
tune in to new adventures, into frilly
napkins and paper and modern usages.
And nearby on reed-like legs, viewing
an unfolding world, as feathered forefathers
once stood in awe-
cormorants hulking on weathered pylons
aside Northumberland Strait.
© 1990 Richard L. Provencher
All Rights Reserved
first published October 1990
The Pottersfield Portfolio
Crazy Quilt Press
Halifax, Nova Scotia
ISSN 0226-0840
Comments
Beeme | August 11, 2009 - 19:22
I enjoyed this. Well done. It has some great imagery;
'And nearby on reed-like legs, viewing
an unfolding world,'
Beeme xx
Richard L. Prov... | August 11, 2009 - 23:51
Thank you Beeme. This poem is about the Pictou, Nova Scotia waterway, as one drives into town. It was settled in the mid seventeen hundreds, with the first 200 settlers arriving on the ship, Hector. But the Cormorants were there first! Richard LP