National Poetry Day - Remember

I've been aware that this day was coming up and had all sorts of memories rising to the surface, clamouring for attention. Many of them concerning family members long gone, it got a bit depressing. So I opted for a very happy period of my life and decided to remember the poet and writer, George Mackay Brown and many happy days and weeks spent in Orkney.

The portrait* referred to in the poem can be see Here if you care to take a peek.

Remembering George

Yesterday I met George through an old friend
who used to invite him up for a glass (or two)
of home brew, a yarn and maybe a song.
What she missed most, she said,
was his sense of fun, 'not present in the poems'.

In the library George gazed out from a poster -
forgotten exhibition; gazed sightless
from a head sculpted by another islander.
I remember the eyes from Fred's portrait*,
those island eyes turning sometimes inwards
charting the process of ageing, sometimes
outwards noting the changes progress brings,
sometimes backwards observing history,
sometimes watching distantly
the changing familiar horizon, and always
carrying hints of sadness, suffering, humour.

I met him again, holding in my hands
certificates of birth and death; his birth
notified by his father and bearing his mother's
full name, Mary Jane Mackay Brown;
his death notified by nephew John, and
the list of medical causes is long. His heart
gave up the struggle to feed that remarkable brain.

The streets of Stromness are lined with memories,
familiar names live in my mind as they did in his.
The paint peels on number three, Mayburn Court
and the blue plaque adds to the lifeless air.
I feel a keen sense of loss and sadness though
I didn't meet him in real time. There is an empty space here.

Sue 2002

The image is from the well read 'Portrait of Orkney' and is by Werner Forman c1981.