The Tiller
I am dark and smooth, polished by many hands,
but the one hand that I loved has gone,
so let me swing to the rudder’s motion,
moored in the lee, alone.
I knew the change of weather by his grip
and felt his hunter’s passion like a tide,
and the herring scales he rubbed on me
were jewels that I wore with pride.
I pitied him when wind and rain
pressed him, huddling to steer,
up against my nakedness,
the only language we could share.
There’s not a man in all Kintyre
will point me to the open sea;
I’ll bear no other master’s hand,
but burn instead – unship me.
Angus Martin
Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library
................................................................................................
Angus Martin writes of the inspiration for the poem
'When this poem was written, more than twenty years ago, herring-fishing was one of the dominant themes of my writing. When I left school in 1967 to become a fisherman, I represented the fifth generation of Martins so employed. I was also the last, but I consider myself fortunate to have experienced the end of herring-fishing and to have known, and recorded, the last of the old men whose lore and learning predated the rampant technological advances which ultimately destroyed the herring-fishing. I don't remember fishing boats with tillers - only steering-wheels - so this poem was a celebration of the Loch Fyne skiffs which disappeared here before my birth, and probably also of my grandfather, Duncan Martin, whom I never knew and whose skiff, the Fame of Dalintober, I never saw and never will see.'
...................................................................................................
About the Poet
Angus Martin was born in Campbeltown, Argyll, in 1952. He has had thirteen books published, including four of poetry. His first collection, The Larch Plantation, received a Scottish Arts Council Spring Award in 1991, and some of his poems have appeared in anthologies, including The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Scottish Poetry.
He is married with three teenaged daughters and has worked as a postman since 1979. He edits the biannual historical journal, The Kintyre Magazine, and his interests include archaeology, local history in its many forms, natural history, hill-walking, and reading.
http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsin ... y2007.aspx