in memory, J. D., 1930-2005

If ink were a city then I imagine
canals

           needle-boats, these rained-on
and half-remembered evenings

and the island a crushed hat
on a polished bench.

           If these lines were
a harbour, then I imagine night

as a great many swimmers
crosshatching the surface—

ink of their hands
hemispheres of their brows.

Your seaward house--
the intelligence

           of its windows, doors
in morning light--

we row the long boat of memory
out past forgetfulness, the island

a folded paper hat
you wear

           into the brightness
of each day

as it breaks, these quietly voiced
and barely registered mornings

in the next room
the night room now

down the long corridor
of your eye.

 

Copyright © Gregory O'Brien, 2006.

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Gregory O'Brien lives in Wellington, New Zealand, where he is curator at the City Gallery. His fourth collection, Afternoon of an Evening Train (Victoria University Press, Wellington) was published in 2005. Other publications include After Bathing at Baxter's (essays, 2002) and An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English (with Jenny Bornholdt and Mark Williams, OUP Australia/New Zealand, 1997).