Coastline at Score Head, Shetland Islands. Photo by John Allan via Wikimedia Commons.
The place of arrival is an opening, “this rough coast a gate.” Nothing here is certain (“not map, no compass rose”) or still, the edges undefined. The invitation is just this: to arrive and to dwell in this uncertainty and motion; to look and not to “miss a single / wave’s decay” (3).
Susan Tichy’s latest collection opens with an invitation:
Arriving, Stand Still if you can, haul-to within the terms of anguish[1]
The place of arrival is an opening, “this rough coast a gate.” Nothing here is certain (“not map, no compass rose”) or still, the edges undefined. The invitation is just this: to arrive and to dwell in this uncertainty and motion; to look and not to “miss a single / wave’s decay” (3).
