Blue

on Capri the gondola
rides far above the sea
hangs in green between blue and blue

below at the azure grotto
the boatman grasps the chain
we ride the surge
into glowing pale blue
our small flotilla circles
crosses the pool
(to bathe in this!)

and in Mainz
there’s an overflow of blue as
Chagal’s windows
light St Stephen’s
a triptych of swirling leaves
tumble of angels
Jacob Moses Elias
the holy family
the Christ
the ancient ark adrift on blue

and generations of high water marks
on the walls of villages
along the Rhein and Main

and the grey Danube

acqua alta – ma quanto alta?

(c) Barbara McCartney

Published in Flap: The Chook Book 2, (The Hen House) 2010

* "acqua alta - ma quanto alta?" translates as "high water - but how high?"
As seen  on a safety leaflet from Venice.

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About the Poem:

This is the fourth and final Tuesday Poem selection from the recently released Flap: The Chook Book 2 by Christchurch poets Victoria Broome, Catherine Fitchett, Barbara McCartney and Christina Stachurski. Blue is from Barbara’s section of the anthology: the distance from here to there. I love the transition of “blues” through waterscapes in the poem, and also the way this work complements Catherine’s Blue last week—with Barbara’s poem making the return journey to Europe, again by water, while nonetheless remaining an odyssey recorded in shades of blue.

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About Barbara:

Barbara wrote poetry as a child and started again about ten years ago, and has since been published in Poetry NZ, North and South Magazine, The Press (Christchurch), and Takahe magazine.  Barbara is one of the Poetry Chooks who have just published their second anthology, Flap: the Chook Book 2.  She likes poems to have more than one level of meaning/interpretation, and is usually pretty severe in editing her own and others’ work.  She think a poem needs to be polished (as a jewel is), so that its essence is untrammelled by extraneous matter. Barbara also like hiding secrets within the language.

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