Reflections by Conor Robinson
Reflections
Hush boys, keep your hissed whispers to yourselves, and
listen… to the water bubbling fruitfully,
coloured with all the pastel of a bruise.
See the way it wells and billows under the
rocks and into the inky hollows below;
a few hours, then we’ll drift back to the car, and homeward
see if you can spot the wood warbler, son,
the pied flycatcher, maybe even the
nuthatch. They know the woods, these birds do;
though, in their hopping, and their
tripping, and their tapping,
they are as child-like as you
the rough lunchtime sandwiches are waiting
in the old bread bag, with the bottle of diluted juice
and the bright plastic cups, dinted by teeth;
but the brothers are already kicking off shoes
and socks, discarding clothes with breathy laughs,
crashing through the mossy shallows with
the mad flip-flop of homesick salmon,
the water swallowing them up, to the waist
And if I, still in my soggy children’s trunks,
stoop over the edge, and peer down into the glassy pool,
I see both the smudged greens of trees
and the sunken, muddy deep;
and for a moment, just for a moment,
it’s as if there are rocks anchored in the sky
and birds flying through the water
Now, things didn’t, perhaps, happen like that;
perhaps trips to Allen Banks weren’t marked by
the burn of skies, gentle water and river song,
or the sound of the pitter-patter
of dews that fall from trees in
droplets, like rain music –
my memory is mud-stained, and gives
unclear pictures; like ripples in pools…
But – I choose to remember
the reflection of sky birds gliding through the river;
of my brothers, and me, grinning our way into the evening,
tramping back with our makeshift tree-branch crutches,
to sleep away the long journey home
Conor Robinson was highly commended in the Young Adults category of the NCLA’s Water Poetry Competition 2012.
The NCLA Water Poetry Competition was judged by W.N. Herbert and John Burnside. The ceremony was held at Northern Stage on 23rd February 2012.
Photographs of the event can be viewed here.
NCLA Water Poetry Competition website.
A note from Conor on writing this poem: ‘I heard about the competition a week or so before the deadline; I’d never written any poems before, let alone submitted ones to a competition, but I thought I’d give it a go and see what happened. The poem is about the north-east National Trust site Allen Banks, where mam and dad used to take us when were were young. The textures and sounds of words interest me, and I really tried to convey a sense of the woody earthiness in the language. As the title suggests, it is about both the literal reflections in water, as well as reflecting upon my youth; about our tendency to romanticise our childhood experiences, whether these memories are accurate or not. At the end of the poem, I admit that, although the reality may have been different, I’d rather preserve the more beautiful image of events in my mind.’
And a short biography:
Conor Robinson is 19 years old, and currently on an (unplanned!) year out. He has lived in Consett, County Durham all of his life. He’ll be studying English Literature at Oxford University starting in October, where he hopes to be able to continue writing poetry, having been given a confidence boost by entering this competition
This poem is inspired by the tralaivs of searching for the elusive Phenacosaurus orcesi during a trip to Baeza, Ecuador last summer:The phenacosaur awakens from dreams of juicy prey,The volcano Antisana shines brightly in the day.Perched on a twig, he rests safely assured,“Those silly humans don’t know what they’re looking for!”Skirting the road edges with trucks whizzing by,No lizards in sight, oh! how time doth fly.Binoculars in hand and scanning the brush,The orcesi are hidden in the leaves so lush.The day slips by till the moon rises high,The time for finding an orcesi is nigh.Alack! Alas! A lizard in sight!But it’s only A. fitchii, try as we might.