Posted 01.09.11 in Writing

Charlotte Higgins – Postcard Poem about Hawaii

Hawaiian

A young Hawaiian mountain of a man
Taught me to read his whole life on his skin;
With how he loved his wife marked on his breast,
His family tree branched out from hip to shin -
As if the native blood that floods his veins
Had flared in navy ink from toe to chin –
“But never on the back,” he said, and smiled,
“I need to look at you to tell you where I’ve been.”

 

Postcard showing Hawaiian islands

 

 

Clare Pollard says: This is one of my favourite postcard poems.  It feels so perfectly formed and whole – the effortless iambic pentameter; the skin/shin/chin rhymes leading to that lovely, subtle half-rhyme on ‘been’.  It’s such an arresting central idea – memorable travel stories are so often about encounters with people, and this captures an intimate moment of connection.  Some great verbs – the ‘branched out’ family tree leads us to the image of the veins and the flaring ink.  And I love the fact he smiles at the end!

 

This poem was written as part of the poem postcard exchange, see the original challenge!

Comments (3)

3 Responses to “Charlotte Higgins – Postcard Poem about Hawaii”

1. Emma Yeo says:

   September 1, 2011 at 8:00 pm

   Love this postcard, but like the poem even more!

   Reply
2. Charlotte Higgins says:

   September 5, 2011 at 9:02 am

   Thank you so much for the wonderful comments, and for selecting my poem, Clare!

   And Emma, thank you, I’m so glad you liked it

   Reply
3. Melis says:

   June 18, 2012 at 10:12 pm

   I like the late French poet Jacques Prevert. Just search his name floelwod by poetry in English and a few good options will come up.My favourite American poet is Stephen Dobyns, though he is far from structurally masterful, and his latest collection, Winter’s Journey, not (yet) published in the UK, is particularly worth ordering on amazon. Bloodaxe’s New and Selected of his work, titled Velocities, is a great introduction, with some incredible poems included, even though he has published almost half a dozen collections since.

   Reply