Holidays With a Geographer
by Clare Kirwan
Always go on holiday with a geographer.
They know the names of trees and rock
formations, the patterns of clouds, their cargo.
They tell the poisoned plants from the edible,
the weft and warp of the earth's crust,
where it will stand your weight, where it will give.
They see the seasons' idiosyncrasies,
the languages of trees. They are familiar
with geomorphology, composition of soil,
the spread of man in his environment.
They read the map's contours like life lines
on their own hands: their alluvial planes,
and oxbow lakes, the glacial valleys,
erratic rocks, the rights of way to everywhere.
Never go on holiday with a geographer.
They will plunge into the rushing stream,
dangle over eroding edges, plot a course
into fearful undergrowth, tear along dotted lines.
They will laugh at thorn and beast and be
on friendly terms with every precipice,
love elemental weather, want to see
what's over the next hill, drill you deep into
uncharted land. They won't lie in the sun
clinking gin and tonics. They never stop
to just enjoy a view in silence, unexplained.
They are a force of nature. With them
you'll always be ten paces behind
in an alien landscape, as good as lost.
Judge's Comments - Roger Elkin
A useful ploy to structure a poem on two blocks of conflicting and contradictory advice. This adds an element of humour as different world-views, values and ways of behaviour are explored. We can identify with the conflicting tensions, because the detail is so accurately and sympathetically outlined. Would the poem have the same critical import had the stanzas been swapped? Certainly the final lines act as a recognisable warning: the acknowledgment of a practical reader of "the map's contours like life lines / on their own hands" compromised by the fact that "They never stop / to just enjoy a view in silence, unexplained." That "unexplained" speaks volumes about levels of awareness, sensitivity and understanding. is there any doubt which holiday the writer would prefer? Comfortable, and comforting writing.
