“Norwegian Cottage,” Child Hassan, 1909, WikiArt.
Rocks, wind, first skiff of snow, treeless
Plain, windowless cottage, no doors,
Crofter’s abandoned lifetimes, meager
Hopes, memories lost on desolate
Shores. To my childhood home I have
Returned, older woman, re-established
Life on isolated isles. Dipper and bucket,
Quick jaunt to [...]
Posts in category Newfoundland Poetry
1202. Hearing Myself Anew
“Norwegian Cottage,” Child Hassan, 1909, WikiArt.
Rocks, wind, first skiff of snow, treeless
Plain, windowless cottage, no doors,
Crofter’s abandoned lifetimes, meager
Hopes, memories lost on desolate
Shores. To my childhood home I have
Returned, older woman, re-established
Life on isolated isles. Dipper and bucket,
Quick jaunt to [...]
1189. Home Headlands
“Old photo of home headlands, time, color faded…”
Old photo of home headlands,
Time, color faded, restored, in
Digital picture frame on desk at
Work. “Where is this?” curious
Asked, attempting to gaze past fog,
Mist. “That’s home,” I responded,
Wood frame house, graying cedar
Shakes, open dories, old pickup
Trucks, fires eve [...]
1134. Fundy Fishing-Stage
“Perched ten feet from foaming edge, I Learnt about Fundy nor’easters…”
During winter months, no “rents” are open
On fishing islands, cottages, cabins closed.
Whilst lobstering, able hand on forty-foot
Boat, I stayed at tiny island house, fishing
Stage or outport sitting above crashing
Waves, hand-packed riprap, hard-turning [...]
1123. Newfoundland Memories
“Gritty linoleum floors, layer over layers of tongue-and-groove flooring boards…”
Old memories of Newfoundland, like ghosts,
Linger on night pillows, enter pre-waking
Dreams, decades of wispy images, voices,
Feelings, even smells, cascading return,
Forgotten past, repressed, life-chapters,
When I was someone else then, young [...]
1113. Canada Day Reflections
“Each day, however, began with sunrise, belief in God and prayer…”
Canada Day reflections, Maritimers, men
And women who sailed, fished, European
Immigrants, seeking, praying for new life,
Opportunities. For Newfoundlanders, family
Was carving niche out of coastal forests,
Short summers, living in near servitude,
Cod fishing [...]
1070. Saga of Seafaring Brædyn, Part ...
“Four Seasons, Winter,” Paul Cezanne, 1861, WikiArt.
Part 4: Forever-Seeing Horizon (Last)
In presence of Holy Breather, Brædyn asked
First of three questions, no more, lest agéd
Mother required days recovery from spiritual
Separation, mind-body. “You said ‘dark decades,’
What is to become of us, Markland, Norse tribes?
What can w [...]
1069. Saga of Seafaring Brædyn, Part ...
“Indian Brave,” Charles M. Russell, 1898, WikiArt.
Part 3: Elder Mother, Saana
Arrows tree striking, Norse warriors shields
Raised, protecting Sigrith on exposed Labrador
Shore. Except these attention getting arrows
Hit harmless distance away. “We know you,”
Aboriginal warrior said to sword-raised Norse.
“Your daughter safe, with [...]
1068. Saga of Seafaring Brædyn, Part ...
“Visitors from over the Sea,” Nicholas Roerich, 1901, WikiArt.
Part 2: Brædyn Meets “Mother of us All”
Wind wailing in rigging, Norse longboat making
South along Markland course, clear head-turning
Cry, one word: Mother. At first thought imagined,
Loss of Brædyn to inky-depths, then again heard,
Beyond doubt, Brædyn’s mother, Sigr [...]
1067. Saga of Seafaring Brædyn, Part ...
“Ingleborg,” Peter Nicolai Arbo,” 1868, WikiArt.
Part 1: Seafaring Brædyn Drowned-Reborn
White-cresting seas, Norse longboat storm
Seafaring, girl overboard thrown, hands rope
Slipping, heavy cloak, boots, no bobbing head,
No frantic waving arms. All feared Brædyn
Drowned, snared in Rán’s entangling net, icy
Waves stilling y [...]
1058. Reflections Self-Concealed
“Reflections self-concealed…”
Awakened by confusing dreams, memories
Resurrected from past, places and people
Wrong, swirled within my mind, except
Regressed past rising from subconscious,
Revisiting in midnight moments. Unable
To think straight, to sleep, to self-explain,
All that I walked away from, has returned,
Floor-cre [...]
491. Jigging Northern Cod
Fishing Stages, Fogo Newfondland, 2002, Wikipedia photo.
Beneath this wooden boat, ocean waves rise
And fall, rocking open dory, steady drifting
With sea currents, beyond sight of rustic
Newfoundland landwash fishing stages, past
Austere outports, spruce-clad hills fade in
Foggy distance, eastern in-shore fishery,
Jigging Northern cod.
For b [...]
453. Grand Banks Cod Fishing
Archived DFO Map Depicting the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Heady days of taking Northern cod on the
Grand Banks, I remember trawlers pounding
Whitecaps into spray, Avalon coast distant,
Diesels churning to Tail of the Banks, trawl
Net and heavy bobbins ready on stern deck,
Trawl doors rigged, cod in thick schools
migrating along undersea cor [...]
421. Labrador Whaling
“Whaler And Fishing Vessels Near The Coast Of Labrador,” William Bradford, 1880, Wikipedia photo.
Along Labrador coast we sailed, navigation
Amongst perilous ice and fog, stretching
Sails from shores of Belle Isle, signal fires
Of distant fishing stations, we cut north
Upon the liquid road, lookouts aloft sear-
Ching whale paths f [...]
416. Beothuk Wind-Whisperer
“Portrait of Demasduit,” Lady Henrietta Martha Hamilton, 1819, Wikipedia photo. For this poem Wind-Whisperer.
Yes, I remember days of sailing long-ships,
When Vikings first laid claim to Beothuk
Lands, armed with swords and spears, they
Surveyed tree-lined shores, lumber seeking,
Felling trees, their campsites disrupting
Ours, nig [...]
357. Emily and Ismene: Poetic Trilogy
Part I. Emily, Time-Lost to Ægean Seas
“Spring Spreads One Green Lap of Flowers,” John William Waterhouse, 1910, Wikipedia photo. For this poem, Ismene, then and now.
My quiet Emily, are you forever lost? Rainy
Days in Newfoundland, reading old postcards
In our attic, light of water-streaked window
Panes, blankets and hot tea. We [...]
349. Meriel and Demasduit
“Portrait of Demasduit,” Lady Henrietta Martha Hamilton, 1819, Wikipedia photo.
Daughter of Irish immigrants, Meriel and her
Family endured harsh life, secluded Newfound-
Land fishing hamlet, subsistence living, abject
Servitude, gutting and drying cod for barrel
Packing, tiring daily chores, whilst her father
Worked an open dory, [...]
333. Home Buoy Bells
Day dawned clear, summer sun warm on my
First cod jigging trip to Conception Bay. Once
On wide, deep waters, wind-stirred air turned
Cool, spray cold, nothing that I couldn’t endure,
A hardy girl, muscle and bone, not outdone by
Boys older and head taller, Newfoundland girl of
Eight, swallowed whole by old kapok lifejackets.
Beyond my reckoni [...]
324. Rekindled Memories
Newfoundland Fishing Village.
Rougher than Nova Scotia, worse than Maine,
Newfoundland Novembers are brutally cold.
Yes, Haligonians and Mainers will protest,
But they forget heartbreaks of Grand Banks,
Pitching foam-streaked waves, fog obscuring
Morning sun on wind-bent hostile seas.
Such were early lessons of young men and
Women, who helped [...]
320. Wait Till Morning
Trinity, Newfoundland
Reduced to fear and doubt, I pray you’re
Not lost at sea. Five days over due, no one
Has heard from you since leaving Trinity Bay
For distant Flemish Cap. We’ve done nothing
But make phone calls, scoured Grand Banks
Charts. When the pastor or Coast Guard
Calls, my heart falters, all but stops.
Telling whispers at f [...]
314. Briny Memories
If pained memories are repressed, why do
Pleasant ones also fade to forgetfulness?
Old letters and family photos thrust them
Both to forefront of mind and emotion.
Resurrected deep from decades past,
Pleasant and troubled images, shadowed
Faces entwined deep within the heart.
At times, memories of this incarnation are
Secondary to dreamed ima [...]
247. Attic Memories
A childhood mystery and panicked fright,
The attic, the lower landing cluttered and
Claustrophobic, hanging clothes covering
Faded, torn wallpaper, illuminated by a
Single light adjacent to a plastic-covered
Window, stage set for breath-holding
Exploration or heart-pounding escape.
Year-round musty smells persisted amongst
Dark-turned landing [...]
235. “Atlantic Ranger”
Partially obscured by fog, a container ship steams north along the coast of Nova Scotia.
Moving cargo by sealift on “Atlantic Ranger,”
Canadian Maritimes, Baffin Island, port-to-port
Greenland and Iceland, dodging icebergs on
Heaving Northwest Atlantic, flying the Red
Maple Leaf, maritime way of life continues.
Shipping containerized freight [...]
224. Love of Ocean
Early morning gale on the cold Atlantic Ocean.
When and where I love the ocean varies like
Colours of sea waves. Whilst at edges of shoal
Waters, I yearn for familiar rings of home buoy
Bells. Harsh clangs provide a sense of security,
At times, accomplishment, distant peels
Gathering strength, acknowledging safe return
From deep seas, another [...]
222. Love Lost in Labrador
Our relationship began as friendship,
Corresponding about poetry and prose.
Over time, our discussions became more
Intimate than words we wrote, dreams
And visions experienced by poetic
Minds, penned sparks and flames.
With my phone tucked waitingly under
My pillow or lost in blanket folds, I
Imagined its quiet light was yours, a
Gentle voice [...]
213. Belle Isle Archaeology
Astronaut photo of Belle Isle of Labrador Current and that from the Strait of Belle Isle, NASA ISS Crew, 2005, Wikimedia photo.
From the southern reaches of Labrador, sea-
Shores mirror coastal regions of the Great
Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland,
Separation of twenty nautical miles. Betwixt
Them, glacier-scoured Belle Isle, post-Ice age
R [...]
Recent Comments