It’s National Poetry day today, Thursday 8th October. The theme is ‘Light.’ Here’s a poem that I submitted unsuccessfully to a ‘Poetry News’ competition a little while ago on the same theme. Ah well! It’s probably not quite ‘on theme.’
You may be interested to know that this poem was inspired by waking up in the middle of the night to see early morning flights emerge from the clouds on their way to landing at Gatwick. I live right under the flight-path.
Lantern fish
I wake
To see lantern fish,
Emerge from the depths of the ocean sky,
Out of silty clouds where others hide.
Then fly
Towards me,
One, two, three, sometimes more,
Their lights before them.
I am
The night fisherman,
Trawling black heavens with my rod,
Reeling them in, hook, line and sinker.
I am
The passenger,
Fallen overboard from his sleep,
Thankful for their company in this expanse.
I am
The dreamer,
Searching for light, for life,
Their flight inspiring me with belief.
I watch
As they glide,
In phosphorescent procession and descend,
Into the shoal that glows beyond the reef.
Simon Denegri
October 2015
Simon Denegri Poetry 