Friday 17 August 2012

Round 10: Poetry


Speaking with Reindeer

Speech:/ the antler of the mind
(Robert Bringhurst – ‘A Quadratic Equation’)

I admired his cap of antlers –
ideas forking from his scalp,
yet struggled with his voice,
which bellowed like a stag.

They studied his awkward gait,
his upright stance, his lack
of language. And like a preacher,
he didn’t know how to listen.
                               
I wanted to hear what they knew
about the quality of tundra
the taste of cloudburst berries;
what deer feel about snow.

I saw a herd, splodgy brown,
reverse freckles. Unafraid.
They scented me, trotted off –
a force of winter forest –

ideas intact, their knowledge
still out of my grasp. Yet,
like meeting someone famous,
what would I have said?

Katrina Naomi